WINDSOR, ON — If pedigree and yearling sale price are starting points for evaluating two-year-olds in the early days of their careers, the pacing colt division heading for Windsor Raceway on June 26 should be one of the most exciting divisions in the Ontario Sires Stakes program this summer.
Of the 23 colts who will compete in a trio of Gold Series Eliminations on Wednesday night, 17 were sold at the annual yearling sales last fall for a total of $617,800, with two of them hammered down for more than $100,000.
Windsor trainer Robert McIntosh will send four freshman to the post and the 2001 Johnston Cup winner has high hopes for all four, good news for the owners who shelled out $47,000, $72,000 and $105,000 for the three acquired via the yearling sale route.
The first McIntosh protege to step up to the Gold Series plate is Daylon Alert, a $72,000 purchase for owner Robert Waxman of Ancaster at last fall’s Canadian Classic Yearling Sale. The son of Camluck and Ara Newton will hope to make a deposit against his purchase price from Post 2 in the third race.
“He’s a real nice big colt. He looks like a big tough colt that will go the distance, ” says McIntosh of the brother to Daylon Trooper ($379,672). “He was one of the top set all winter long. He has a nice attitude and doesn’t get too excited about things.”
In the seventh race McIntosh will harness a pair of youngsters, one he owns himself and one he will race this summer on behalf of US trainer Joe Holloway of New Jersey and his partner John Celii of Pennsylvania. McIntosh’s homebred son of Camluck and Lingerie, Make It Brief, will start from Post 4 while Rustys Gold has Post 6. Holloway and Celii plucked Rustler Hanover and Apple Country son Rustys Gold, a sibling to impressive performers like Armbro Mackintosh ($471,628), out of the Kentucky Standardbred Yearling Sale for $47,000 last September.
“Joe’s an experienced horseman and he wouldn’t have sent him up here if he didn’t think he was good enough,” says McIntosh of the recent addition to his freshman string. “I talked to (driver) John Campbell about him and he said he was a nice big colt. I look for him to make a decent accounting for himself.
“Make It Brief is not quite in that category yet, but he’s a very solid horse. I think he will develop into a real nice horse.”
The final entry to fly the stable colours is the colt McIntosh admits he is the most excited about at this stage in the game. Stonebridge Premio, also owned by Bob Waxman, will begin his career from Post 6 in the eleventh race on Wednesday night.
“He is one you sit behind and get a little excited about. He acts like he is the whole package,” says the veteran horseman. “Last fall I looked at several hundred yearlings and he was one of my top picks, if not the top pick. He’s been a good colt to train from day one.”
Waxman wrote a cheque for $105,000 at the Kentucky Standardbred sale for the son of Camluck and Fran Seelster. Stonebridge Premio’s siblings have earned over $1.1 million, helped along by another McIntosh trainee, $610,613 winner Stonebridge First.
Trainer Jim Ainsworth also has a colt he is keen on entered in Wednesday night’s elimination round. Major Memory is a son of Rustler Hanover and $304,285 winner Save The Memories and will battle the McIntosh duo from Post 7 in the seventh race.
“He just seems to be the real deal,” say Ainsworth, a three-time winner of the Johnston Cup as the top trainer in the Ontario Sires Stakes program. “He looks the part, he is very well put together. He qualified in 2:00.1 at Sarnia (June 15) in his first time behind the gate.”
Ainsworth trains the colt for his father Larry of Petrolia, William Boden of Vancouver and Steve Calhoun and Michael Lindley of Chatham. The partners selected Major Memory out of the Forest City Sale Yearling Sale for $42,000.
While both trainers are eager to see how their charges fare in their first provincial event, they admit that racing two-year-olds is not a game for the faint of heart.
“Some respond with a big effort, but the odd one makes you look stupid,” says McIntosh with an ironic chuckle. “There’s usually a surprise with every start.”
This season’s surprises begin at 7:25 pm on Wednesday, with the two-year-olds strutting their stuff in Windsor Raceway’s third, seventh and eleventh races. The top three finishers from each elimination will return to Windsor’s five-eighths oval on July 3 for their first shot at a $130,000 Gold Final.