WOODSTOCK, ON — Nineteen freshman trotting colts will get their last pre-season tune-up this week before making their Ontario Sires Stakes debut at Woodstock Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
The two-year-old trotters will compete for a total of $87,637 in three Grassroots divisions and Ronald Topping is hoping that Rocky Two has a share of it in his harness bag after the first race.
The son of Topping’s former competitors A C Star and Linfields Indigo, Rocky Two will start from Post 2 on Saturday and the veteran horseman is hoping he is as well behaved as he was in a June 29 qualifier at Sarnia’s Hiawatha Horse Park.
“He had never been off the farm before until the qualifier at Sarnia, and he behaved very good,” says the London resident. “He’s been a very good colt from Day 1. Within two weeks after I broke him I thought he was going to be a racehorse.”
Up until last weekend Topping, who trains and drives the colt, was unsure if Rocky Two would be ready for the Grassroots season opener.
“He was sick for two weeks and I didn’t know if I would have him qualified in time. I had to hurry him up a bit,” says the long time horseman. “Some of the other horses might have more experience that he does. But if he stays trotting he should get some money at Woodstock.”
One thing Topping believes may work to the colt’s advantage is his familiarity with a half-mile track like Woodstock Raceway.
“I train on a half-mile track on my farm so he should be kind of used to the turns,” says Topping. “He should race good, very good.”
Rocky Two will face six of his peers in the first division, including two from the Ross Henry barn. The three-time winner of the Johnston Cup as top trainer in the Ontario Sires Stakes program will ship six young trotters to Woodstock on Friday, starting two in each race.
E B Buck and Kuruption will start from Posts 3 and 6 in the first race, Wee Todd and Grand Turk from Posts 1 and 5 in the third race and Earl Vic Dol and Brisk Success from the third and sixth spots in the last Grassroots division. Woodstock Raceway’s first race gets under way at 1:15 pm on Saturday.