SUDBURY, ON — For the third straight week Sudbury Downs fans will be treated to Ontario Sires Stakes action on Saturday evening. Taking the starring role in this week’s feature are the lightning fast three-year-old pacing colts, competing for a total of $110,054 in seven Grassroots divisions.
With two Grassroots events on the books, five colts remain undefeated including Gregg McNair trainee Tristin Seelster. The Camluck colt posted victories at Grand River Raceway on May 24 and Rideau Carleton Raceway on June 24 and will attempt to extend his provincial win streak to three from Post 6 on Saturday.
“He’s had things work out for him, that’s why he hasn’t been beat,” says McNair, adding that Post 6 may make it tough for the colt to repeat in Sudbury. “And you can leave or do whatever you want with him, he’s not hard to drive.”
McNair shares ownership on the winner of $57,881 with Leonard Gamble of Etobicoke and Don MacDonald of Amherstburg. The Guelph resident prepared Tristin Seelster for Saturday’s contest with a start in the second leg of the Summertime Series at Woodbine Racetrack on July 10, where the colt logged a fifth-place finish in the 1:51.4 mile.
Stuart Sowerby will steer Tristin Seelster from Post 6 in the seventh race, looking to take advantage of the colt’s versatility to land him in the thick of the action. Sowerby will also pilot McNair’s second starter, Lucky Brad, who also drew a tough outside position and will start from Post 7 in Race 12.
“They’re real similar the pair of them. There’s not much separating them,” notes McNair. “They’ve trained together a lot and they are both nice, basic horses.”
Lucky Brad has a win and a second-place finish in two Grassroots starts and sits right behind Tristin Seelster in the point standings. The Island Fantasy son heads into his third Grassroots start off an impressive 1:56.2 mile at Clinton Raceway on July 11.
“We raced him there at Woodbine (July 6) and he went a good trip,” says McNair. “Then there was a spot for him at Clinton so we raced him down there and he went a big mile. This horse has come back a lot better than he was last year.”
McNair trained Lucky Brad to earnings of $9,673 last season for owners Douglas Dunbar of London and Brad Dunbar of Ilderton. This year the colt has already more than doubled that with a record of three wins, three seconds and one third in 11 starts.
“He had no finish to him so we ended up turning him out. He had a lot of respiratory problems,” says the trainer. “He gets a lot more time outside now. He’s out of the stall as often as we can get him out.”
McNair’s colts and their peers are spotlighted in Races 6 through 12 on Sudbury Downs’ Saturday evening program, which begins at 7:15 pm.