Ontario-Sired, On A Sunny Day, Earns Casual Breeze Stakes Victory

Three-year-old trotting fillies On A Sunny Day ($5) and Southwind Tesla ($28.10) shared the spotlight with Casual Breeze Stakes victories on Friday night (August 25) at Mohawk Racetrack.

On A Sunny Day was a wire-to-wire winner in the first of two $81,412 divisions for trainer Luc Blais and owner Determination of Montreal, Que.

Driven by Sylvain Filion, 3-2 second choice On A Sunny Day established the lead from post two over inside leaver The Erm (Louis-Philippe Roy). The Muscle Mass-Dicent No filly then carved out panels of :28.2 and :58.1 before rebuffing a first-over challenge from 6-5 favourite Glitzey Gal (Trevor Henry). She raced past three-quarters in 1:26.1 with a two-length lead and turned for home with The Erm chasing from the pocket en route to a 1:54.2 victory by three-quarters of a length. Winter Sweet Frost (Doug McNair) rallied off cover to finish third.

“I was just trying to see what would unfold from the gate and only the one horse was leaving so I thought to myself maybe try to give it a shot on the front end,” said Filion of his racing strategy.

“She’s just a sweetheart. She’s not very big, but she’s all heart and tonight we got soft fractions and it was pretty easy for her.”

On A Sunny Day now boasts four wins and two second-place finishes in seven seasonal starts with her annual income climbing to almost $180,000. She entered the Casual Breeze off a pair of Ontario Sires Stakes Gold victories and a “flat” runner-up effort in the most recent August 17 leg.

“She felt like she was really flat and she wasn’t as strong as she usually is and they scoped after and she was a little sick actually so I’m just happy she bounced back the way she did tonight,” said Filion.

(Standardbred Canada)

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