HANOVER, ON — Ontario Sires Stakes excitement returns to Hanover Raceway on Saturday night with five Grassroots divisions for the three-year-old trotting colts.
After three events Willing And Abel sits atop the division standings with 125 points earned through two wins and one second-place effort. The Incredible Abe son will attempt to pad his lead with another victory in the tenth race on Saturday night, starting from Post 4 with Tom Strauss in the race bike for trainer Robert Hummel and Whitesand Valley Stables Inc. of Schomberg.
Harriston resident David Sinclair is hoping that his colt, Bootin Barney, can add to his 37 points with a solid effort in the second division. With a second and a third to his credit the New Victory gelding is just shy of the current cut off for a post season berth and Sinclair would like to see him make a leap upward on Saturday.
“He can leave a little bit and sometimes he can finish a little bit too,” says Sinclair, who purchased the colt just before the start of the 2002 season. “Hopefully he has some luck on Saturday. It’s a tough bunch, but they always are.”
Bootin Barney heads into his fourth Grassroots start off a three-week vacation from the races following back-to-back starts in the Dream Of Glory and Central Huron Stakes at Hanover Raceway and Clinton Raceway where he posted disappointing sixth and eighth-place finishes.
“I was hoping he’d do a little better up at Hanover in the Dream Of Glory, but he ran into some problems. I did something silly racing him the next day. I thought he was good and sound enough to handle it, but he just got tired and made a break,” explains Sinclair.
“He had some time off, then I tuned him up pretty good on Saturday and tomorrow (Aug. 15) I’ll blow him out a little bit,” adds the owner-trainer.
Al Wilson will steer Bootin Barney from Post 2 on Saturday night and the duo will face six other colts aiming for a share of the $18,306 purse, including early favourite Total Mayhem.
One of four colts trainer George Zirnis will start in the Grassroots event, Total Mayhem heads into the third race off a 2:00.2 victory at Hanover on Aug. 3. The Promising Catch son started his sophomore campaign in the Gold Series, but makes his second start in the Grassroots from Post 6 on Saturday. Elmira resident Zirnis shares ownership privileges with Thomas Cousineau of Elmira and NFWR Stable, Brampton.
Zirnis will also start Royal King Pin from Post 1 in the first race, Carrland Buddy from Post 3 in the sixth race and Robby Hershey from Post 1 in Race 10.
Hanover Raceway calls the first Grassroots division to the post at 7:20 pm on Saturday night . The talented three-year-old trotting colts are also featured in Races 3, 6, 9, and 10.