Name the Filly contest to return

Canstar’s Name the Filly contest was so successful — with a whopping 848 entries — that this paper wants to do it again next year. Hey, maybe a name you entered this year will be a winner next year.
Speaking of which, July 1 — the day of the big reveal in the Name the Filly contest — has never been bigger for this paper since it started sponsoring Canada Day at Assiniboia Downs nine years ago. The night included two important stakes races and a fireworks display.

The night was special, too, in less obvious ways. Wagering was up. Despite two fewer races than the last two years, wagering increased by 12 per cent.

Also, Canstar’s signature race, the $25,000 Canstar Canada Day Stakes for the best female horses on the grounds, was won by the biggest longshot since Canstar became connected with this race. CJ’s Flair paid $24.10 for a $2 win ticket.  

Fans were also lucky to see the best filly in western Canada, Escape Clause, do her stuff in the $25,000 Chantilly Stakes. The three-year-old put away an Alberta invader, then widened as she pleased, giving rise to speculation that she will be entered into the Manitoba Derby, something that fillies rarely do.
In fact, if she enters the derby (on the first Monday in August) and wins it, that would be the first time in the Downs’ 60-year history that a Manitoba-bred filly has won the Derby. Only two Manitoba-bred boys have done it.

No three people were enjoying the winner’s circle more that night than the winner of the Name the Filly contest, Evelyn MacKenzie Reid, and two Canstar reps, sales manager Barb Borden and sales rep Shelley Morgan.

And why not? Evelyn received her prizes for best filly name (Modesty’s Tribute) which included $250 cash and a suite for 16 at a Goldeyes game. And all three posed for pictures with the horse who won the Canstar Canada Stakes and with a horse that received a 250th anniversary blanket for winning the Name the Filly race.