Aunt Els led at every call with a powerful effort to take Sunday’s $150,000 Ontario Lassie Stakes, at Woodbine.
The chestnut daughter of Consolidator, an R.M.C homebred trained by Norm McKnight, broke sharply in the 1 1/16-mile ‘Poly’ stake for Ontario-bred two-year-old fillies, and saved all the ground en route to a one-length score over previously undefeated Original Script.
Aunt Els, under Justin Stein, set splits of :24.14, :48.60 and 1:14.11 with Jean’s a Lady and Original Script stalking closely down the backstretch.
Original Script was asked for her best run through the turn and battled the front-runner the length of the stretch, but could not pass Aunt Els who crossed the wire first in 1:47.16.
Stein, guiding the Ontario-bred filly around two turns for the first time, expected to make the pace.
“She’s a pretty quick sprinter,” said Stein. “I figured with the horses in this race, that she would be a factor in the pace scenario. She broke like a bullet and that pretty much made the plans for the rest of the race.”
Original Script, sent to post as the overwhelming favourite, did cause Stein some concern.
“She (Original Script) looked like she was going pretty easy beside me,” said Stein. “Of course, with her form, you have to have respect for her, but they’re all beatable.”
Aunt Els, who sprinted into the Ontario Lassie off an impressive 4 ¾-length allowance score, banked $90,000 in victory, improving her record to three wins from four career starts.
She paid $6.10, $3 and $2.10, combining with Original Script ($2.30, $2.10) for a $12.30 (2-5) exactor. A 2-5-4 (Rutherford Road, $2.40 to show) triactor was worth $27.30.
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