CLINTON, ON — Clinton Raceway kicks off an outstanding four week stretch of Ontario Sires Stakes action this Sunday with six Grassroots divisions for the three-year-old trotting colts.
Tyrone Dillon leads the sophomore colts into the wild card event with a flawless record of three wins in three Grassroots starts this season. The Balanced Image son, conditioned by last year’s leading Ontario Sires Stakes trainer Bob McIntosh, will make his bid for a fourth victory from Post 4 in the first race on the 1:30 pm program.
“He’s been one of the tougher Grassroots horses for sure,” says McIntosh. “He’s a very gritty colt with a great attitude, and he’s good on a half mile track.”
Through six starts this season Tyrone Dillon has only been bested on one occasion, finishing third in a Flamboro Breeders event after making an uncharacteristic break. While McIntosh and his partners, breeder Dave Boyle of Bowmanville and CSX Stables of Liberty Center, OH, toyed with the idea of trying him in the Gold Series they opted to star in the Grassroots rather than play second fiddle to a group of very tough Gold Series regulars.
“It’s such a fine line between Gold and Grassroots,” says the La Salle resident. “We were hoping he might be Gold material, but I’ve found you’re better off dealing with a top Grassroots horses than a fringe Gold horse. Right now we’re pretty happy with him.”
In addition to Tyrone Dillon, McIntosh will also harness Mr Tantalizer from Post 2 in the fifth race and Wireless Image from Post 5 in Race 11.
While Tyrone Dillon has created a satisfying season for his owners, Mr Tantalizer has failed to deliver on the potential McIntosh felt was present during the colt’s two-year-old campaign. Through five starts this season the Mr Lavec son has notched just two third-place finishes, one of them in Grassroots action, and sits well below the current cut off for a post season berth.
“I thought he’d be a little better three-year-old,” laments McIntosh, who shares ownership on Mr Tantalizer with Michelle Baillargeon Emery of Windsor and CSX Stables. “He’s been a little bit of a disappointment.”
Wireless Image’s victory in the season opening Grassroots event earned him a shot in the second Gold Series at Windsor Raceway on June 29. While Wireless Image finished sixth in his elimination and was back in the Grassroots for the Aug. 16 skirmish at Georgian Downs, his performance did nothing to alter McIntosh’s belief that the Balanced Image son is on the road to being a very tough racehorse.
“He’s just on the edge of being a real good horse,” says the trainer. “He was a big colt last year and was a little uncoordinated, but he’s better this year and he’ll be better again next year. He’s going to make somebody a real nice four-year-old.”
In spite of the colt’s size, McIntosh says he handles a half-mile like a veteran and should be a factor in the eleventh race Sunday.
“For the size of him, he loves the half mile track. He gets around the turns really well,” says McIntosh. “He’s actually better in the turns than in the straightaway.”
McIntosh, CSX Stables and Michael Kohler of Sterling Heights, MI own Wireless Image, who boasts a record of three wins, one second and one third in eight starts this season and sits in a four-way tie for eighth spot in the Grassroots point standings.
Don McElroy, the top OSS driver in 2001 and 2002, will pilot all three of McIntosh’s starters on Sunday.
The three-year-old trotting colts open Clinton Raceway’s Sunday matinee at 1:30 pm and are also spotlighted in Races 2, 5, 6, 10 and 11. The colts are the first of four talented Grassroots divisions Clinton fans will enjoy over the next four weeks. On Sept. 14 the two-year-old trotting fillies arrive for wild card excitement, Sept. 21 features the two-year-old pacing colts and on Sept. 28 fans can catch the high speed three-year-old pacing fillies in action.