HANOVER, ON — Hanover Raceway celebrates the Civic Holiday weekend with eight Grassroots divisions for the three-year-old trotting colts Saturday evening.

Making just his second start in the Ontario Sires Stakes program, and his fourth lifetime start, is Mark Etsell trainee Just Do It. The son of Balanced Image and former Etsell pupil Fleur Collins heads into the eighth race off a smart 2:04.1 qualifier over his hometown oval last weekend and Etsell expects the colt to be even better on Saturday.

“He was sick after Woodstock (July 9) so we couldn’t do much with him,” explains the Hanover resident. “He qualified last week, a little short, so hopefully he’ll be better this week. He trained good this morning (Wednesday).”

Just Do It has the genetic material to be a success on the racetrack — Fleur Collins earned $131,760 for Etsell and his partners Neil Spahr of Wellesley, Robert Newton of Walkerton and Bruce Newton of Waterloo and sister Vision Of Gold has accumulated $354,694 in her career — and through three starts the young trotter has one win, one second and one third to his credit.

“He looked like he needed some time to develop so I didn’t train him much last year, I just turned him out and let him grow,” says the veteran horseman. “He’s green, he’s only had a couple starts, but he usually shows up to race and that’s a good thing. Hopefully he can follow in his sister’s footprints.”

After qualifying at Hanover on June 11, Just Do It finished second by half a length in an overnight event seven days later that was clocked in 2:05.2. On June 29 Etsell shipped the colt to Flamboro Downs for a non-winners of one race contest and came home with the a win photo in spite of an early miscue that left Just Do It as much as 15 lengths behind the leaders.

In his Grassroots debut at Woodstock Raceway on July 9 Just Do It logged a third place finish in spite of starting from the outside Post 7, spending some time parked three wide and making a brief miscue turning for home.

“He came around the turn and tried to kick it into another gear, but his brain was going faster than his feet were,” recalls Etsell. “If he can put it all together he should be a decent racehorse.”

If Just Do It delivers another solid effort at Hanover on Saturday Etsell and his partners will be back at the Grey County oval one week later for the Dream Of Glory eliminations.

“Hopefully he races good this week, because he’s got the Dream Of Glory next week,” says the trainer-driver. “I think he might be better on a big track, but everything is right at home for the next three or four weeks.”

Etsell and Just Do It will attempt to accumulate a few more Grassroots points from Post 4 in the eighth race on Saturday, facing off against a tough field that includes two-time Grassroots winners A Hay Luva Paige and Right Mind from Posts 3 and 5.

Racing gets under way at 7:25 pm on Saturday evening in Hanover, with the three-year-old trotting colts stepping into the spotlight in Races 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

For a complete list of entries please go to:

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