SUDBURY, ON — Five time Ontario Sires Stakes Trainer of the Year Ross Henry retired at the end of the 2005 season, but Saturday’s Trillium Series event for two-year-old trotting fillies at Sudbury Downs proves that son Wayne Henry is more than ready to step into his father’s sizeable shoes.

The Henry stable will send out seven of the 20 contenders on Saturday — including a trio of fillies that head into the Trillium season opener off wins in qualifying action — and Wayne Henry says Saturday’s race will be a good indicator of where each filly will make her next start; at the Gold or Grassroots level.

“They’ll tell me more after this race,” says the Arthur resident, who was reluctant to indicate which fillies are carrying heavier expectations heading into the event. “Time will tell. I don’t want to jinx them.”

First out of the gate from the trotting specialist’s barn are Tymal Francesca and Windsong Darling, who will start from Posts 4 and 6 in the second race. After making a break in her first qualifying attempt, Tymal Francesca returned to Mohawk Racetrack on June 17 and was a solid second in 2:04.3.

“She wasn’t real good the first time, so we made a few changes and she came back and trained good and was good for that qualifier,” explains Henry, who trains the Berndt Hanover daughter for his partners in the Henry Stable, James Laverty of Sauble Beach and breeder Ron Waples of Guelph.

Windsong Darling, owned by the Henry Stable, heads into her provincial debut off an impressive 12 length victory in qualifying action at Mohawk on June 9.

“She always trained down nice,” says Henry of the CR Renegade daughter, who stopped the clock at 2:04. “But how far and how fast she’ll go, nobody knows.”

In the second $24,713 division, Henry will harness Royal Strength daughters Tymal Timeout and Odee Tijana from Posts 1 and 3. Tymal Timeout won her June 3 qualifier at Mohawk in 2:06.3 for the Henry Stable and Daniel McCann of Parkhill, while Odee Tijana delivered a more sedate 2:08.1 performance to finish seventh on June 9 for owner and breeder Virginia Odorico of Limehouse.

“Tymal Timeout is a fairly nice filly,” says Henry. “We had her sister too, Lookit, she was a fast mare. This one seems to be a little smarter, hopefully she’ll keep it.”

In the last division a trio of fillies will carry the Henry colours. Fiesty G G daughter H S Gingersnap will start from Post 2 and Powerline Mesa will start from Post 3, while The Beer Fairy gets the outside Post 7. H S Gingersnap delivered a steady 2:08.4 qualifying performance on June 9 to finish fourth for the Henry Stable and Daniel McCann, while The Beer Fairy and Powerline Mesa finished first and second in their June 3 qualifier, tripping the Mohawk teletimer at 2:07.

“She’s a nice little mare too,” says Henry of Striking Sahbra daughter The Beer Fairy, owned by the Henry Stable and James Laverty. “She isn’t real big, but she seemed to have enough go to her.”

NGA Powerline of Brantford bred and own Powerline Mesa, a second generation product of their breeding operation by Balanced Image and out of Powerline Rebel.

Sudbury Downs send its first race behind the starting gate at 7:15 pm with the Henry fillies and their peers squaring off in Races 2, 5, and 8.

For complete entries please go to:

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