INNISFIL, ON — Ontario’s top two-year-old pacing colts will get an advance preview of the Georgian Downs surface on Saturday night as they compete in eight Grassroots divisions, the second last event on their road to the Oct. 8 Semifinals at the Innisfil oval.
Only the top 16 point earners from the regular season will return to Georgian Downs for the Semifinal, and Robert Atkin is hoping all three of his charges can make the grade. Through the first four events Mythic Voyage, Wingandaprayer and Rare Copy are all above the current cut off and the Mount Albert resident is hoping a trio of strong performances Saturday will help them stay there.
“They’re all very well mannered, very nice horses. None of them have any bad habits,” says Atkin, who trains the Grinfromeartoear sons for Millar Farms of Newmarket. “They’re all going to be decent horses down the road, too.”
Mythic Voyage currently leads his stablemates in the point race with 125 points earned through two wins and one second in his three Grassroots outings. The colt also boasts a win in his July 25 Battle of Waterloo Elimination at Grand River Raceway, with his only off the board finish coming from an uncharacteristic break in the Aug. 1 final.
“He’s been a little bit of a surprise,” admits Atkin. “Training down he was in the slowest pack and you had to chase him a lot, so we took our time and let him tag along at the back, and then about mid-April, the first of May, we changed his bridle up and spoke to him a little more and he’s come along pretty good.”
The half-brother to $423,249 winner Celestine Prophecy bested several Gold Series regulars in his Battle of Waterloo Elimination, but Atkin and the Millar’s decided to keep him in the Grassroots program for the remainder of his freshman year in hopes that it will pay off next season.
“He’s the type of horse that acts like he’ll get a lot better with age,” explains the trainer. “He could probably do in the next level up, but he has to work a little harder at it, so we’re just going to take our time with him and hopefully he’ll be a better horse next year.”
Mythic Voyage will attempt to bolster his point total from Post 2 in the ninth race, while his stablemates have been saddled with Post 7 in Races 3 and 4.
Rare Copy will kick off the evening for the Millar Farms entry and Atkin is hoping the regally bred colt can bounce back from a tough outing in Woodstock on Sept. 3.
“He came out good there,” says Atkin of the colt’s win in the July 2 Grassroots season opener. “But he’s had some bad post positions and he had a problem getting over Woodstock.”
The son of the Millar’s prolific broodmare Little Black Book, who boasts four offspring with earnings over $100,000, Rare Copy has 62 points after three Grassroots starts and needs to pick up a few more to maintain his spot in the top 16.
Wingandaprayer has also had trouble drawing a post on the inside half of the starting gate and has earned 62 points from one win and one second in Grassroots action. Atkin tested the pacer at the Gold Series level at Mohawk Racetrack in July and he delivered a third-place finish in his elimination, but finished tenth in the final after suffering through a :27 opening quarter on the outside.
“We tried him in against the Gold horses, but he was just a little bit behind them,” says the trainer. “But he gives his all, that little bugger, he’s mighty.”
The colt will need all his determination in Saturday’s tough test against two other colts currently ranked among the leaders and four just below the cut off.
The two-year-old pacing colts raise the curtain on Georgian Downs’s Saturday evening card at 7:35 pm, competing in Races 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, and 10. For a complete list of entries please go to:
http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/egeodfsa.html