INNISFIL, ON — Georgian Downs fans will catch a glimpse of tomorrow’s stars on Tuesday evening when 33 two-year-old trotting colts make their way to the Innisfil oval for four Gold Series Eliminations.

Midhurst resident Keith Jones will start two Gold Series hopefuls, Sovereign Way from Post 5 in the eighth race and Worthy Lavec from Post 6 in the Race 9.

“Both colts trained pretty good this morning,” says the trainer-driver. “Worthy Lavec might be closer to a Grassroots horse, but we’ll give them both a shot close to home and go from there.”

While Worthy Lavec may hover on the line between Grassroots and Gold eligibility, Jones is fairly confident that Sovereign Way belongs in the upper tier.

“George Charlton owns him, he was basically looking for another Incredible Abe colt, and this is the one I liked best out of the ones that were in the Canadian Classic Sale,” recalls Jones, the regular trainer for Utopia resident Charlton. “He did everything right and so far he looks good. Hopefully he can keep going that way.”

A $19,000 yearling purchase, Sovereign Way qualified June 18 at Mohawk Racetrack, touring the seven-eighths mile oval in 2:04.4, but Jones expects that it will be the colt’s familiarity with Georgian Downs that will stand him in good stead on Tuesday.

“He schooled down at Georgian, so hopefully he knows the track well. It might work to his advantage,” notes the trainer. “If he can stay trotting hopefully he can get a good chunk of it.”

While Sovereign Way easily met the Ontario Sires Stakes qualifying standards on his first try, Worthy Lavec required two outings before he earned a ticket into Tuesday night’s contest. The Mr Lavec son made a break in a June 18 event at Mohawk, so Jones sent him to Georgian Downs for a second effort on June 25 and Worthy Lavec delivered a steady performance to finish second in 2:07.

“It took me a little longer to qualify him, he made a break in the first qualifier,” explains Jones, who acquired Worthy Lavec from the Canadian Classic Sale for just $8,000. “He was better at Georgian. He wasn’t fast, but he stayed at it.”

Joining the Jones starters in Tuesday’s event are a pair of high-priced youngsters. H L Superman will start from Post 1 in the second race for the Fred Monteleone Stable LLC of Pompano Beach, FL. Monteleone acquired the full brother to $340,185 winner Honour Way for $80,000 at last fall’s Forest City Yearling Sale. Also lining up on the starting gate in Race 2 is $125,000 yearling Campbell Hall, a half-brother to $1.5 million winner Cantab Hall. Trainer Robert McIntosh Stables Inc. of LaSalle, CSX Stables of Liberty Center, OH and Michael Kohler of Sterling Heights, MI share ownership on the Striking Sahbra son.

Georgian Downs’ Tuesday evening program gets under way at 7:35 pm, with the two-year-old trotting colts testing their mettle in Races 2, 4, 8, and 9. The top two finishers, plus one third-place finisher, will return to the Innisfil oval on July 12 for the first $130,000 Gold Final on their schedule.

For a complete list of entries please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/egeodftu.html