INNISFIL, ON — On Saturday evening Georgian Downs fans will herald the first group of two-year-olds to go postward in an Ontario Sires Stakes event this season. Thirty-three freshman pacing colts will make their provincial debut at the Innisfil oval and trainer Anthony Montini is hoping Hubastank is as impressive Saturday as he was in a schooling race four weeks ago.

“Michael Timpano bred the horse, raised the horse and trained him down and he called to ask me, a) If I would train him, and b) If I would possibly buy into him,” recalls Montini. “I went and looked at him and liked what I saw so I bought into him and started to train him.”

Montini’s earliest glimpse of the Dexter Nukes colt was in a schooling race at Georgian Downs in early June. Although the colt is a little on the slight side, Hubastank’s gait and attitude impressed the Acton resident.

“He seemed real easy on his feet, he had a nice gait,” says the trainer of world record holder Primetime Bobcat. “And he seemed like an old pro, like he’d done it 100 times. He looked like a real smart horse.”

Since moving from Timpano’s Phelpston farm to Montini’s barn, Hubastank has confirmed the trainer’s initial assessment.

“He’s like a four-year-old racehorse in the barn, nothing really fazes him,” says the horseman, who shares ownership on the colt with breeder Timpano, Basil Michele of Mississauga and Chico Sernaglia of Brampton. “He’s a nice horse on the track, and he loves his work. He has a great attitude about everything.”

Montini qualified the colt at Mohawk Racetrack on June 10, trying to determine if Hubastank was ready to compete in the Ontario Sires Stakes program, and at what level. The youngster powered away from Post 8, carved out fractions of :30, 1:00 and 1:30 and ended up finishing third by one and a half lengths in the 1:58.4 mile.

“He had Post 8 and I wanted to know if he was good enough to go up there for the Gold. Luc Ouellette drove him and he made the front pretty easy,” explains Montini. “Luc liked him; he said we should definitely go up there.”

Hubastank will make his racing debut from Post 2 in the fourth race on Saturday night, with Anthony MacDonald in the race bike. The pair will face seven other novices in the second of four $29,000 Gold Eliminations, meaning only the top two will return to Georgian Downs for the June 24 Gold Final.

Among the youngsters lining up against Hubastank in the fourth race are Ardor Inmotion, the first foal of $479,707 winner Ardor Chymes, Fahrenheit, a half brother to $188,462 winner Northern Raucous, and Timely Topic, the third foal from $206,467 winner Streisand Fan.

The two-year-old pacing colts will debut their racing skills in the first, fourth, sixth and seventh races on Georgian Downs’ Saturday evening program, with the first Gold Elimination going postward at 7:35 pm.

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