Where Are They Now: Filly

A familiar Manitoba-bred mare has reemerged at Tioga Downs after being away from harness racing for almost ten months.

Filly (Blue Burner) is a five-year-old mare with one of the most memorable starts to her racing career at the Miami Fair track in southern Manitoba. She was bred by Trevor Williams and was foaled in St. Claude, Manitoba.

Filly started racing during the 2021 Miami Fair summer meet as a three-year-old and won her debut in 2:02.0. She followed her first performance up by securing the victory in the Lady Crocus in 2:01.1. Filly would go on to add a win in the Manitoba Standardbred Futurity Stake eliminations and be a perfect four-for-four heading into Manitoba’s oldest stake race.

She drew post position five for the 2021 Manitoba Great Western Stake and was the heavy favourite going in. However, she would never get to the gate because she was scratched due to being relocated to a new home in New York state.

It didn’t take too long for Filly to become accustomed to her new surroundings as she won her first two races in Jenn Bongiorno’s barn. She paced her first mile at Yonkers Raceway in a time of 1:54.3 and followed that up with a 1:58.0 with sloppy track conditions.

Filly ended her rookie year with six wins and two second-place finishes in eight starts. Her four-year-old campaign saw some ups and downs. It took her a while to get back in the swing of things, and it wasn’t until her seventh start that she got her first win of 2022. She paced the mile oval at The Meadowlands in 1:53.0. After a few more starts, she transferred barns again, this time to Joseph Skowyra. Filly only saw the winner’s circle one more time in 2022, and that was at Tioga Downs. She paced the mile in 1:52.4, which is now her lifetime mark.

Filly went unseen on a race program from July of last year until she appeared this past May again at Tioga Downs in a qualifying race and posted a time of 1:57.4. Filly did have issues in her first actual race back and needed to qualify again. In her second qualifier, she posted a time of 1:56.4, and when she hit the track again for the real thing, she performed even better. She finished fourth but did so pacing in 1:54.1, which is back to her old ways.

Filly’s career started hot in Manitoba but has undoubtedly cooled off as of late. Hopefully, in her return to the track, she can continue to work back to the form she used to be and will be able to showcase her Manitoba roots wherever she may go.

by Trey Colbeck, for Harnesslink