SUDBURY, ON — Sudbury Downs hosts its first Ontario Sires Stakes event of the season this Saturday, Aug. 25, laying out the red carpet for the talented two-year-old trotting fillies competing for a total of $104,450 in five Grassroots divisions.

Trainer Karel Laarakkers will make the trip to Ontario’s northern oval with division point leader Dr Sparky — who has one win and one second to her credit — and the Sunderland resident admits this summer has marked a series of firsts in a harness racing career that spans more than two decades.

“I’ve had lots of second and thirds, but that was the first Sires Stakes that I’ve won, so that was a highlight,” he says of Dr Sparky’s July 21 Grassroots victory at Georgian Downs. “And this is the first trotter I’ve ever had. I’ve only had pacers before.”

Laarakkers purchased Dr Sparky at last fall’s Canadian Open Yearling Sale for a modest $2,500 and says the daughter of Dr Ronerail and Meadowbranch Iza was a treat to break and train.

“I liked her conformation. She was very small when I bought her,” says the horseman. “She just kind of caught my eye.

“She did everything the first time. She was very sensible and I only had to show her once,” he continues. “She was very easy to break.”

Dr Sparky made her debut in a July 7 qualifier at Georgian Downs and returned to the Innisfil oval on July 15 for a two-year-old conditioned event where she finished eighth. Upon arrival back at her Sunderland stable the filly spiked a temperature and Laarakkers says it was touch and go whether she would even make the first Grassroots event.

“When we came home from Georgian Downs she had a temperature of 104 (degrees Fahrenheit), so we had to baby her a little bit to get her to the first stake,” he recalls. “But she came out of it very good.”

Dr Sparky delivered a 2:02.3 victory in the season opener and came back with a runner-up performance in the second Grassroots event of the season at Dresden Raceway on Aug. 2. The filly that bested Dr Sparky at Dresden moved up to the Gold Series for her next start, finishing third in her elimination and qualifying for the final, but Laarakkers has no plans to launch his filly up to the provincial program’s top tier.

“I’m quite happy with the way she’s performing right now,” he says. “She has a lot of maturing to do before I decide to put her up.

“I think she’s just starting to come into her own right now,” he adds.

Regular reinsman Aaron Byron will steer Dr Sparky from Post 3 in Race 6, the fourth of five $20,960 Grassroots divisions. The two-year-old trotting fillies will also entertain Sudbury Downs fans in Races 2, 3, 4 and 7. Post time at the northern oval on Saturday, Aug. 25 is 7:15 pm.

For complete entries please go to:

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