SARNIA, ON — When Icy Welcome rolls up behind the starting gate at Hiawatha Horse Park on Saturday night, Robert and Richard Manders will be holding their breath for the first thirty seconds of the Grassroots contest.

“The first quarter has been her problem,” says Richard Manders about the two-year-old trotting filly’s chequered past. “She’s a little scared of other horses, being trained on the farm with just one other horse, but hopefully we’ve got her straightened away after the way she raced at Grand River.”

After struggling for a month to get a clean raceline on the flighty young trotter, the Manders brothers were rewarded in a big way when Icy Welcome delivered a 2:06.2 upset at Grand River Raceway last Friday, Sept. 23. It was the second flawless mile the Super Pleasure daughter had executed since trainer Robert Manders changed her bridle in preparation for a Sept. 18 qualifier at Dresden Raceway, where she trotted to a third-place finish in 2:06.

“We had a blind bridle on her, but for the qualifier at Dresden we put a hood on her with an open bridle with the sheepskin cheeks,” explains Richard Manders. “That’s the way she raced at Grand River, and that’s the way she’ll race Saturday night.”

The Watford resident admits that, in spite of her early season struggles, his brother had much more faith in Icy Welcome heading into the Grand River event.

“My brother does all the training on her and he kept telling me how good she was, he had more confidence in her. I was just looking for a good line and a cheque. Each time she passed a horse I was happier,” says the longtime horseman. “When I saw her start to move up I thought, �All right, fifth,’ and then it was, �All right, fourth,’ and, �All right, third.’ Then Terry tipped her three-wide coming off the turn for home and I thought, �Oh boy, she’s going to be right there,’ and she won.”

A second generation product of the Manders’s breeding program, Icy Welcome will start from Post 5 in the fourth race on Saturday and faces an impressive line up of Grassroots talent, including five fillies currently ranked among the top 12 point earners.

“We were hoping for a good post position and I see she’s got the five,” notes Manders. “That’s in the middle of the pack, but I do believe we drew the toughest division.

“She’ll need a little bit of luck, like she got at Grand River.”

If Icy Welcome can achieve a second upset, or even put together another flawless effort, the Manders family will not be short of people to celebrate with on Saturday.

“It’s got around town that she won last Friday in Grand River and people have been asking, so I would guess there will be some Watford people there Saturday,” says Manders. “I guess it was 10 years ago we had Shower Gift, who would be this filly’s uncle, and he won a Gold in Sarnia and the grandstand was just packed with Watford people.”

In addition to rooting for their local favourite, the Watford area fans will be treated to five outstanding Grassroots battles on Hiawatha Horse Park’s Saturday evening program. The first division goes postward at 7:30 pm, with the other four slated as Races 2, 4, 5, and 7.

For a complete list of entries please go to:

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