INNISFIL, ON — Thornton native Aaron Byron will make the trip home to Georgian Downs on Saturday evening to steer two freshman pacing colts in their Grassroots debut.

The young reinsman has been making his presence felt on the Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) circuit this season, recording five wins, two seconds, one fourth and one fifth in 13 provincial starts, including a driving hat trick at Western Fair Raceway on June 27.

“It was awesome,” says the 23 year old, who recently moved to Cambridge in an effort to shorten his daily commute to Ontario’s major racetracks. “It was the biggest day I’ve ever had in my driving career.”

Before the start of the 2008 OSS season, Byron decided he would try and hit as many events as possible, with the ultimate goal of having one drive in each Grassroots Final come Oct. 24. The strategy is one that has paid of for other young reinsman, including Jody Jamieson, a three-time winner of the provincial circuit’s leading driver award who was honoured with an O’Brien award as Canada’s top driver in 2007.

“It’s definitely a great progam to get into. It gives young drivers a lot of exposure,” explains Byron. “I’ve definitely been picking up more drives, but that was my goal.”

On Saturday Byron will steer Specialized Motion from Post 5 in the first race and Fast Pay from Post 7 in Race 5. Saturday’s outing will be Byron’s first aboard Dave Menary trainee Fast Pay, but after piloting Specialized Motion in an overnight at London’s Western Fair Raceway on June 27, Byron is looking forward to seeing what the colt can do on Georgian Downs’s roomier oval.

“He’ll enjoy the bigger track better than the smaller track,” says the driver. “He’s a big two-year-old so it will be nice to see him grow up and mature.”

Pat Crowe owns and trains the son of Camotion and the Cookstown resident agrees with Byron’s assessment.

“He’s a good sized colt,” says Crowe. “I’ve raced him a couple times now. He’s a little green, but he’s learning.”

Crowe acquired Specialized Motion at the 2007 Forest City Yearling Sale for a modest $5,000, and says he was on his way home empty-handed when breeder Gerry Belore waved him over to have a look at the leggy youngster.

“I really wasn’t interested in him. I went to buy a Modern Art colt and I didn’t get that done, but as I was leaving the sale Gerry Belore hollered at me to come take a look at a colt,” recalls Crowe. “He wasn’t a bad colt and when I looked at his pedigree I saw his second dam was a good mare and his third dam was Crafty and I’d raced two out of her, B Crafty and Craftcandoit, so I thought I’d go in and watch him sell.”

Crowe adds that the colt shows flashes of speed, but that he will have to earn a second trip to the Grassroots program with a strong effort on Saturday.

“If he races decent I’ll keep going with him, but if he doesn’t I’ll wait until he’s a three-year-old,” says the veteran horseman. “He’ll have to show something to keep going.”

Among the colts that Byron and Specialized Motion will face in Saturday’s first race are Go West Lucky Cam, who qualified at Mohawk Racetrack on July 14 in a smart 1:58.3, and Sterling Chris, a 2:00 winner at Grand River Raceway in overnight action on July 7. Go West Lucky Cam will start from Post 4, while Sterling Chris gets Post 7.

The two-year-old pacing colts kick off Georgian Downs’s Saturday evening program at 7:25 pm and are also featured in Races 3, 5, 7, and 9.

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