Caretaker Caity Hillier cheers on the little filly who could.<\/p>\n
by Melissa Keith<\/p>\n
As industry focus shifts\u00a0to yearling sales and the upcoming Breeders Crown, a foal with a late start to her career can get lost in the shuffle. Favoritism\u00a0was born on June 10, 2023, the last of that year\u2019s\u00a0foals\u00a0born at\u00a0Millar Farms of Stouffville, ON.<\/p>\n
Now 2 years old, the pacing filly\u00a0had a close connection to Caity Hillier from the very beginning. On the evening of the\u00a0Bettors Delight daughter\u2019s first career start, the former Millar Farms caretaker visited Woodbine Mohawk Park to show her favoritism\u00a0for Favoritism.<\/p>\n
The Puslinch, ON horsewoman recalled the\u00a0auspicious timing of the filly\u2019s birth. Favoritism\u2019s dam, Hidden Gem, went into labor as her most successful offspring was racing in a 2023 Roses\u00a0Are Red elimination at Mohawk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually happened to be there the minute she was born,\u201d said the filly\u2019s former groom, adding that she wasn\u2019t sure why Favoritism was born so late\u00a0in the season. All of Hidden Gem\u2019s\u00a0other offspring\u00a0were born between\u00a0Feb. 21 and April 12. When the mare was bred back to Bettors Delight in 2022, USTA records show she was first inseminated on April 8 and last inseminated on July 6.<\/p>\n
\u201cI happened to be in the [farm] house, watching her full sister, Silver Label, race that evening,\u201d Hillier said. \u201cAs Silver Label crossed the finish line, I got the call that her mother Hidden Gem just started\u00a0foaling, so I rushed out to the barn, about 9:30 at night, and I got to see her just as she came into this world. I spent the first year-and-a-half of her life with her, every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tiny daughter of Bettors Delight had big shoes to fill.<\/p>\n
Silver Label (p, 4, 1:47.3m; $1,345,501) finished second to Treacherous\u00a0Reign on the night of Favoritism\u2019s\u00a0birth, and was second to Grace Hill a week later in the 2023 Roses Are Red final. Voted O\u2019Brien 2-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the Year in 2022, Silver Label won 26 of 61 lifetime starts against the top distaff pacers of her time. She retired after winning the Mohawk Filly and Mare preferred\u00a0on\u00a0Dec. 21, 2024 for driver James MacDonald and trainer Nick Gallucci. Now starting her career as a Millar Farms broodmare, Silver Label was bred to Always B Miki in early 2025.<\/p>\n
Favoritism\u2019s other two full sisters\u00a0are gritty Woodbine\/Mohawk\/Yonkers campaigner Franschoek (p, 5, 1:51.2s; $179,383), now a Millar Farms broodmare, and Savethelastdance (p, 3, 1:51.3s;\u00a0$193,782), an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold winner at ages 2 and 3 who produced her first foal, by Bulldog Hanover, this year.<\/p>\n
Hillier said Favoritism was born with an outsized personality.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was such a sweetheart from day one,\u201d she said. \u201cShe was born about mid-June, and she was just this tiny little thing compared to her big sister Silver Label, both literally and figuratively. She always stayed dainty, but she had a heart of gold from day one. I really hoped that she would race well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the youngest foal at Millar Farms, Favoritism was a fast learner.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was the easiest baby I think we had that year,\u201d Hillier said. \u201cShe took to haltering instantly. I had her picking up feet from about a month\u00a0old. She was just so agreeable, like she took everything in stride. I couldn\u2019t have been more proud of her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hillier watched Favoritism growing up on the farm, frequently napping in the summer sunshine. She was watching again, trackside at Mohawk, when Favoritism and driver James MacDonald joined the race 8 post parade on Friday (Sept. 19) night. While no longer working for Millar Farms, Hillier said she still felt a strong connection to the little filly who could.<\/p>\n
Favoritism didn\u2019t disappoint, clearing fast-leaving Born To Fly on the first turn, and fighting to regain the lead after E A Hazel took control before the half. The 1-5 favorite held off Docs Girl Friday and Amazing Addy in deep stretch, getting her maiden 1:56 win at first asking. Every other filly in the race was older than the winner, with half of her rivals foaled in March 2023.<\/p>\n
Nick Gallucci invited Hillier into the winners\u2019 circle photo. When she called out \u201cCookie,\u201d Favoritism looked in her direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer barn name for us was \u2018Cookie,\u2019\u201d Hillier said. \u201cI hope she recognized me; it seemed like she did. I hope that when I cross paths with\u00a0them later in life, that they remember me, and they usually do, which I hope means that I\u2019m doing something right.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so amazing. I never get over seeing them go from these little itty-bitty foals to being full-grown racehorses. I did take a job a little closer to home. I\u2019m sad to have left Millars\u2019. They were so great to me for so many years, but it\u2019s\u00a0amazing to see what she\u2019s\u00a0become, and I wish her all the best success\u00a0from here on out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Putting Favoritism\u2019s late start into perspective, she was just 18 days old at the same time of year (June 28) when Chantilly (p, 3, 1:49.4s; $786,862), Millar Farms\u2019 homebred Canadian Horse of the Year, was winning her first qualifier at Mohawk last season. A year ago, on the same weekend as Favoritism\u2019s maiden victory, Chantilly was capturing the She\u2019s A Great Lady final.<\/p>\n
With her most famous stablemate on the brink of a comeback tonight (Oct. 2) in Ontario Sires Stake Gold leg 5, little Favoritism will make her second career start on Saturday (Oct. 4) night.<\/p>\n
Hillier still works as an equine caretaker, at a multi-breed\u00a0farm not focused\u00a0on racing. But on nights at the track, the emotions of a harness racing groom are quick to resurface.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt brings tears to my eyes every time I see any of them, especially in their first start, whether they win or come dead last or anywhere in between, I\u2019m always just so proud\u00a0of the horse that they\u2019ve become, but it\u2019s so much more special when they get that first win,\u201d she said. \u201cDefinitely congratulations to Nick Gallucci for getting her out there and getting that first win in her first lifetime start. I\u2019m excited to see how she continues.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Caretaker Caity Hillier cheers on the little filly who could. by Melissa Keith As industry focus shifts\u00a0to yearling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-174695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}