BELLEVILLE, ON — When the two-year-old trotting colts arrive in Belleville on Monday afternoon a sizeable number of them will be sporting the brown and gold colours of the Henry Stable. Trainer Ross Henry will harness nine colts in five Grassroots divisions at Quinte Raceway and the Arthur resident hopes that one or two Ontario Sires Stakes trophies find their way into his trailer before the afternoon is over.
“There are one or two nice colts in there,” says the three-time winner of the Johnston Cup, the Ontario Sires Stakes’ leading trainer award. “We maybe should have had one or two in Elmira (for the Gold Series), but you can’t be everywhere.”
Among the youngsters that Henry is expecting solid results from is Kuruption, who captured his division in the Grassroots season opener at Woodstock Raceway on July 6. The K M Lazer colt will start from Post 5 in the third race on Monday afternoon with Tom Strauss in the race bike and Henry hopes the duo can replicate the wire-to-wire 2:11.4 effort they delivered four weeks ago.
The Henry Stable, comprised of Ross and his sons Trevor and Wayne, shares ownership on Kuruption with James Laverty of Sauble Beach and George Grant of Whitby.
Another colt that Henry will be keeping his eye on is Earl Vic Dol, who finished second by a nose in the Woodstock Grassroots and will start from Post 7 in the seventh race with Trevor Henry at the lines.
“He finished second, photoed out over in Woodstock,” says Henry, who owns the Earl colt in partnership with Laverty. “He looks like he is going to be a decent colt too.”
Several of the contestants in Monday’s event have backed down to the Grassroots after unsuccessful starts in the Gold Series and Henry hopes that Odee Tantie is one colt who benefits from the move. The K M Lazer son made a break behind the gate in the July 13 Gold Eliminations at Kawartha Downs, but he heads to the eight-hole in the ninth race on Monday off a solid third-place effort in a July 26 qualifier at Mohawk Racetrack.
“He’s only been tried the once in Peterborough and he made a break down there, but that happens, ” says Henry, who conditions the colt for Virginia Odorico of Limehouse. “He’s a pretty good colt.”
Trainer Mark Steacy also starts a pair of colts at Quinte Raceway on Monday who made their provincial debut at the Gold level. C S Ruff Start and J N Kingkurt finished fourth and seventh in their Gold Series Eliminations and Steacy hopes Monday’s event will be a confidence builder for both colts.
“The Gold was a little too tough for C S Ruff Start at this point so we decided to back him down and give him an easier start,” says the Lansdowne resident, who shares ownership on both colts with David Reid of Kingston. “And I think J N Kingkurt is just one step down from the Gold.”
Both colts will start from the advantageous Post 1, C S Ruff Start in the third race and J N Kingkurt in the eighth, with regular driver Stephane Brosseau in the race bike.
“I don’t often get that lucky, put two horses in and get two rails, especially on a half mile track,” says Steacy. “I expect that both of them should be good.”
Quinte Raceway sends its first race on to the track at 1:30 pm on Monday and the two-year-old trotting colts are featured in Races 2, 3, 7, 8, and 9, competing for a total purse of $89,395.