DRESDEN, ON — When the two-year-old trotting colts arrive at Dresden Raceway on Sunday for their second Grassroots event, Don and Jean Ferguson hope to be trackside to cheer on Slabtown Seagold and Platinum Image.

“I hope to see him on Sunday,” says Jean Ferguson, who owns Platinum Image in partnership with the Henry Stable of Arthur, while Don shares ownership on Slabtown Seagold with trainer Robert Manders of Watford.

Ferguson acquired her share in Platinum Image last fall after a yearling she had raised was kicked by Don’s colt and suffered a bone chip in his hock. The Croton resident contacted her longtime partner and friend Ross Henry and asked if he had acquired anything at the yearling sale that he would be willing to sell a share in.

“I called Ross, this was after the yearling sale, and said, �Have you got something down there you can give me a piece of,'” recalls the vivacious 82-year-old. “He offered me a piece of Platinum Image or another colt, a Striking Sahbra. If course Don, he’s a Balanced Image person, so we decided I would take half of Platinum Image.”

The longtime horsewoman was able to meet the colt on the way back from visiting her hometown of Midland and was impressed by the young trotter’s size and behaviour.

“He is a fairly big colt. In fact they call him Tiny, they nicknamed him Tiny,” she says. “He seems to be quite mannerly. When I stopped in to see him Shelley (Henry) was in the stall with him and she said, �Come on Tiny,’ and her daughter went out and picked some grass for me to feed him.”

Platinum Image made his racing debut in the Grassroots season opener at Hanover Raceway on July 5, where he made an early break and then recovered to finish fourth. A $13,000 purchase from the Forest City Yearling Sale, the son of Balanced Image and $165,369 winner Giant Missy will make his second provincial start from Post 6 in the tenth race on Sunday.

While Platinum Image starts from the outside of the Dresden oval, Slabtown Seagold will benefit from Post 1 in the seventh race. The son of Super Pleasure and Slabtown Ladylove finished fifth in his Grassroots debut after a long, arduous journey around Hanover Raceway.

“He just went in 2:11 in Hanover, but he was parked and double parked and he had the seven-hole,” says Ferguson, “It wasn’t a very good trip.”

Slabtown Seagold went into the Hanover event off a smart 2:05.4 qualifier at Hiawatha Horse Park on June 29, so the Ferguson’s hope that Post 1 and the return of regular reinsman Terry Kerr will result in a better outing for the gelding over his hometown oval.

Dresden Raceway raises the curtain on its Sunday, July 16 program at 1 pm and sends the two-year-old trotting colts into the spotlight in Races 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 10.

For complete entries please go to:

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