Ontario-Bred, Double Olives, Wins The Blizzard Series Final

Double Olives, second-to-last through the first half-mile, stole the show in the $45,200 final of the Blizzard Series for fillies and mares as she stormed home late from the outer flow to post a 10-1 upset.

Mike Saftic engineered the winning trip aboard the four-year-old daughter of Blissfull Hall for trainer Dave Matson and owners John Taylor of Toronto and Jeffery Ruch of Innisfil, Ont.

Twin B Sweetheart (Jonathan Drury) fired off the gate from the outermost post nine, but 2-1 favourite Cracklin Rosie (Phil Hudon) and Amazing Control (Jody Jamieson) also showed early gate speed to her inside. Cracklin Rosie emerged between the leaving mares as they raced three-wide to the first turn and cleared to command past the :26.3 first quarter mark. However, Twin B Sweetheart remained parked out and drove on to take over down the backstretch, reaching the half-mile mark in :55.2.

With the early speedsters settling in line, Dontbruisecarrie (Doug McNair) then launched first over from mid-pack with Naughty Lady B (Sylvain Filion) hot on her heels as she took over before the 1:24 third quarter mark. Meanwhile, Bad As Leader (Trevor Henry), who was perfect in the first two legs of the series, tracked cover and Double Olives also followed in the outer flow.

Naughty Lady B went by Dontbruisecarrie down the stretch, but Double Olives was full of late pace and rallied by to score a career-best victory in 1:53 flat, with her final quarter clocked in :27.4. Naughty Lady B finished second while Bad As Leader was third and Cracklin Rosie was fourth.

A popular winner in the second leg of the series last week, Double Olives paid $23.80 for a $2 Win ticket this time out. She has finished no worse than second in three series/seasonal starts.

The win was Double Olives’ seventh in 19 races lifetime and boosted her bankroll to $72,810.

The pair of series was three and four-year-old pacers that were non-winners of two races or $30,000 lifetime as of Oct. 31, 2015.

(Standardbred Canada)

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