SARNIA, ON — With just one Grassroots start under his belt, Billie Baran is already a contender for a berth in the lucrative post season and the Sarnia-based two-year-old pacing colt will be looking to bolster his chances with a successful outing over his hometown oval on Saturday night.

“We got a favourable draw,” notes trainer Jim Ainsworth. “Hopefully he can work out a decent trip.”

Billie Baran will start from the advantageous Post 1 in Race 8 — the fourth of eight $15,000 Grassroots divisions Hiawatha Horse Park will host on Saturday. In his Grassroots debut at Hanover Raceway on Aug. 18 Billie Baran finished second after carving all the fractions, and Ainsworth expects the gelding to be sharper this week.

“He was a little flat in Hanover, so we opted to give him a couple of weeks off and he seems sharp now,” notes the Sarnia resident. “We raced him at Mohawk (Aug. 13) and back at Hanover in six days, and I think the six days between races and the long shipping left him a little flat.”

Ainsworth trains the son of Rambaran and Date With Destiny for breeder Charles Lawrence of Blenheim. The young pacer arrived in the Ainsworth barn in early July, qualified once at Hiawatha on July 25 and then captured a non-winners contest at the Sarnia oval on Aug. 4 in a smart 1:56.2. At Mohawk Racetrack on Aug. 13 Billie Baran finished fourth in a 1:55.2 mile, and the veteran horseman thinks the youngster may be ready to clock his own 1:55 mile this week.

“We got him two weeks before he was ready to qualify,” recalls Ainsworth. “Fred Jewell started him, and when they sent him up here he was pretty much ready to go, so we qualified him once and raced him.

“He’s a nice horse. I think he’s ready to go in 1:55,” adds the horseman. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they went a little quicker in that race. I don’t know if he can do that, I hope 1:55 will win it.”

Ainsworth’s prediction of speed is inspired by the depth of talent in the Race 8 field. Be Bop For Life will put a three-race win streak on the line from Post 2, Maritime invader J J Gladiator puts a two-race streak to the test from Post 3, at Post 4 Ratings Hanover returns to the Grassroots after battling the Gold Series colts, and former Gold competitor Keystone Debonair comes into Saturday’s race off a 1:54.4 mile at Mohawk and will start from Post 6.

Working in Billie Baran’s favour are his fresh attitude and his familiarity with the Hiawatha track, and Ainsworth hopes those two elements will aid the gelding in his quest to add a few more Grassroots points to his current tally of 25.

“He should be good at his home track. He’s accustomed to the surroundings,” Ainsworth explains. “He’s a typical green horse, it’s hard to keep his attention sometimes.”

In addition to Race 8, the two-year-old pacing colts will mix things up in Races 2 through 4 and 9 through 12 on Saturday. Post time for Hiawatha Horse Park’s first race of the evening is 7 pm.

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