Special to Bullet News
The connections of Tree Pose have a lot to be thankful for after her outstanding effort in the Queen of Fort Erie Cup held on Sunday at the Border Oval.
Trained by Julie Robillard for the Six Brothers Stable, the four- year-old filly by Old Forester was ridden to victory by jockey Kirk Johnson.
With lifetime earnings of over $220,000, the filly has been rejuvenated since racing on the traditional dirt surface. As a two year old she was a stakes winner at Woodbine but was given over a year off after a second place finish on Sept. 6, 2010. Tree Pose only raced twice as a three year old and made the move to Fort Erie in July of this year.
She had been trained by Woodbine based conditioner Bill Tharrenos up until that point when she moved into Robillard’s care. She has now won two of her three local starts.
When the gates opened jockey Kirk Johnson quickly grabbed the early lead over favourite Time Sharing and jockey Terry Husbands. Although Time Sharing continued to hound the eventual winner it was all in vein as Tree Pose proved to be the best in a gate to wire effort.
“I had plenty of horse left,” said Johnson. “Julie did a superb job getting her ready for this race today. I knew as soon as I got on her in the paddock that she was ready to win.”
For trainer Julie Robillard this is her first Cup victory. The young trainer is currently sitting in second place in the trainers standings. “I have nine left in my barn to run before the end of the season.”
The Queen of Fort Erie Cup offered a purse of $30,000 and took place at a distance of 6½ furlongs. The final time was 1:17.3.
Tree Pose returned $4.60 to win, $2.30 to place and $2.50 to show. Time Sharing finished second and Molinaro Rush rounded out the top three.
