Wine tasting in Crown?

Bow Wow Wine is owner Sheryl Erickson's first racehorse, which might be considered odd since she has worked around horses nearly all her adult life. The horse is trained by her husband, Tim, and carries the couple's hopes into Saturday's $500,000 Breeders Crown 3-Year-Old Filly Pace at Woodbine Racetrack.

The Ericksons purchased Bow Wow Wine privately from Illinois-based trainer Joe Anderson; both Sheryl and Tim had worked for Anderson for 10 years. They met in 1992 and were married in 1999.

"We bought her from Joe for a number of reasons," Erickson, 40, said. "First of all, Tim really liked her and secondly, I took care of both her sire (The Big Dog) and her dam (Somethingdivineinu). We looked at all of The Big Dogs that were in the sale that year and liked her the best."

In 2005, the Ericksons started Bow Wow Wine just six times, with the filly pacing in 1:54.1 at Balmoral in the $27,000 Orange & Blue Filly consolation.

"We raced her lightly at age two," Sheryl recalled. "She was on the small side and we wanted to let her mature. Actually, I didn't even realize she was still eligible to the Breeders Crown until Joe (trainer Anderson) told me she was. He kind of pushed me to bring her up here, so I paid the money to keep her eligible."

Though Bow Wow Wine carries the blood of both of her parents, Erickson said she doesn't have their personalities.

"This filly is very tough to take care of in the barn and in her stall," Erickson said. "She doesn't want you messing with her and doing any of the normal stuff with her. She can be very temperamental and crabby and, for instance, doesn't like you picking out her feet, brushing her or messing with her bandages. She'd just as soon be left alone, except for going out onto the racetrack. Then, she's all business and really just wants to work.

"That's exactly the opposite of her sire, The Big Dog. He was really nice and I could do anything with him. I took care of Somethingdivineinu and she was nice to work with too."

This season Bow Wow Wine has racked up nearly $60,000 in earnings, with five wins, six seconds and a third in 20 tries. Most recently she won in a career best of 1:52.2 with Ron Marsh at the lines at Balmoral on September 24 in a state-bred sophomore filly stake.

"On the track, she loves to work," Erickson said. "She wants to go and enjoys being out there with other horses. She's getting better in the barn, but is still wary of strangers and seems calmer when Tim and I are around her."

Bow Wow Wine wears a simple bridle with cheek pieces, tendon and knee boots, short hobbles and a head pole on the inside, she said. She will start from post two on Saturday.

"She's the type of horse that always comes from behind, so post really wasn't a big deal to us," Erickson added. "There are some very nice fillies in this race, but our filly has a nice, fast last quarter in her, too." (BC)

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