SUDBURY, ON — Ontario Sires Stakes action returns to Sudbury Downs on Saturday night for the first in a two week series of provincial action at the half-mile oval.

This week the two-year-old pacing colts will light up the northern skies in six Grassroots divisions worth a total of $106,188. Among the colts polishing their harness for the third Grassroots event of the season is Northern Scholar, owned, trained and driven by Chelmsford resident Michael Morrison.

With one qualifier and one start in a Sudbury Downs overnight under his belt, Northern Scholar will make his Grassroots debut from Post 2 in the eleventh race on Saturday. The Full Scholarship son collected a fifth-place cheque in his Aug. 3 introduction, pacing his own mile in 2:04.1.

Northern Scholar faces a tough field of Ontario Sires Stakes veterans on Saturday, including Run For Gold, who has one win and one second under his belt through the first two Grassroots events and will start from the advantageous Post 1.

“He drew the rail, that should help,” says Run For Gold’s trainer Jack Darling. “He made a break in his last starts in Clinton, but hopefully he won’t do that again. He didn’t have any trouble when he raced there before, and he won at Hanover. Hopefully he’ll be all right.”

The Aug. 14 break in a Clinton Raceway overnight is the only blemish on the Northern Luck son’s record. He won his division of the Grassroots season opener at Hanover Raceway on July 2 in a sharp 1:59.2, finished second in the July 17 Grassroots event at Clinton Raceway and was fourth in an Aug. 4 overnight at Mohawk Racetrack that saw him pace his own mile in 1:55.3.

“He’s a good mannered horse, very smart,” says the Cambridge resident, who bred and shares ownership on Run For Gold with Daniel Smith of London. “He’s a pretty nice horse to be around.”

In addition to his on track successes, Darling says the colt has also developed into a handsome horse after spending his first year looking somewhat less than attractive.

“He was kind of a homely baby. For the first year or so he was fairly ordinary, but he’s really bloomed into a good looking horse,” says the veteran horseman. “He turned from an ugly duckling into a good looking horse.”

Run For Gold will make the trip north on Friday and spend Saturday relaxing in preparation for the eleventh race. Post time for Sudbury Downs’s first race is 7:15 pm, with the two-year-old pacing colts featured in Races 2, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 11.

For complete entries please go to:

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