INNISFIL, ON — When it comes to advancing to the Grassroots post season the odds are stacked against Lucky Encounter, but trainer Barry Treen is still looking forward to racing the three-year-old pacer at Georgian Downs on Saturday.
“I’ve only had the horse here a few weeks, but so far we’re really happy with him,” says Treen. “He’s just a nice horse to have around the barn.
“And he’s two fingers to drive,” adds the horseman. “I drove him in his last start, and you couldn’t ask for a nicer horse to drive in a race.”
Treen piloted Lucky Encounter to a second-place finish in his Grassroots division at Flamboro Downs on Sept. 9, the first top five result the gelding had recorded in three Grassroots starts this summer. Treen says the young pacer bounced back easily from that 1:54.4 effort and expects the son of Camluck and Breathles Encountr to be just as sharp this week.
“Tomorrow (Thursday) I’m planning on training him a slow double header and that will be about it,” notes the horseman. “He’s jogged all week and he came out of his last race real good, and I think he’ll go into the next race just as good.”
Treen conditions Lucky Encounter for Leonard Gamble of Etobicoke, Kevin Kobus of Toronto and Peter Howarth of Brampton. The partners purchased the gelding from Windsor resident Bob McIntosh in early July and have watched the half-brother to $227,334 winner Breathdefying pick up a few second-place cheques, but they would love see him find the winner’s circle on Saturday.
A win is what the gelding will require if he hopes to extend his Grassroots season beyond this weekend’s contest, and Treen knows the competition will be stiff as every trainer and driver have the same goal.
“We’re in a bad spot for points,” Treen admits. “We need to get quite a few points to hopefully make the Semifinal.
“Just looking at the draw, I thought we were in a nice race compared to a couple others,” he adds.
Among the colts Treen and Lucky Encounter will face from Post 3 in Saturday’s sixth race are three currently ranked among the top 10 point earners. Rileys Luck, currently in eighth spot, gets the advantageous Post 1, Lyons Elite, sitting sixth, gets Post 2 and fifth-ranked Pointed Victory has the outside Post 8.
Whether or not Lucky Encounter can beat the odds and secure a berth in the Sept. 23 Semifinal, Treen is looking forward to racing the gelding for the remainder of this season and on into next year.
“I think he’s just going to be a nice little horse we can race at Woodbine this winter,” explains the Rockwood resident. “He hasn’t really had a lot of starts this year, and he doesn’t have a lot of money made, so he’ll fit some of those late closers.”
“He’s just a real easy horse to get along with. They don’t fall off the tree like that every day,” adds the trainer-driver with a chuckle.
In addition to Race 6, the three-year-old pacing colts will fly around Georgian Downs in Races 7, 8 and 10.
Saturday’s program also wraps up Georgian Downs’ 2011 Ontario Sires Stakes schedule, and will be the last opportunity for fans to enter the Win The Thrill contest. Finalists selected from each horse’s ballot box in the designated Win The Thrill race earn a Georgian Downs betting voucher and have a chance to put their name in the Grand Prize draw at Mohawk Racetrack during Grassroots Championship night on Oct. 1. The Grand Prize winner will join eight others in the Standardbred Breeders of Ontario Association’s (SBOA) New Owner Mentoring Program, being mentored through the process of purchasing and owning an Ontario-sired yearling by Brian Webster and Tony O’Sullivan.
More information about the Win The Thrill contest and the SBOA New Owner Mentoring program is available at www.ontariosiresstakes.com and www.standardbredbreeders.com. Ballots and details are available in the official Georgian Downs program.
The last round of Win The Thrill and Grassroots excitement gets under way at 7:25 pm at Georgian Downs on Saturday.
To view Lucky Encounter’s previous Grassroots starts please go to: Lucky Encounter
For complete entries please go to: Georgian Downs Entries — Sept. 17, 2011