LONDON, ON — Western Fair Raceway wraps up its spring Ontario Sires Stakes schedule with a full slate of Grassroots divisions for the three-year-old pacing colts on Friday, June 27.

A total of $220,000 in Grassroots purse money is up for grabs at the London oval, and Darryl Newbigging is hoping that New Cam can lay claim to a piece of the fourth race pie. In the May 19 season opener at Grand River Raceway, the young pacer drew Post 7 and crossed under the wire in sixth, less than one length shy of a pay cheque.

“He had an outside post position there, and he got the five-hole this time,” laments Komoka resident Newbigging. “He’s had bad luck post position-wise a lot of times.”

Since his March 25 sophomore debut at Western Fair, New Cam has only lined up on the inner half of the starting gate three times. In spite of his poor luck in post position draws, the son of Cammibest and El Tana N has tallied one win, four seconds and one third in nine starts, for earnings of $14,016. The victory came over the London oval on April 29, when he posted a 1:58.4 mile on the front end from Post 4.

“He’s a nice colt to be around. He does everything you ask him,” says Newbigging, who bred and owns the gelding. “He’s well mannered, and he seems to give all he can every start.

“When he took a mark of 1:57.1 at Flamboro last year we thought we had something special. He hasn’t shaped up to a Gold horse, but he’s still a nice horse,” adds the long time owner.

The gelding has done all his racing on half-mile tracks and heads into Friday’s skirmish off a second-place showing at Dresden Raceway on June 15, a race that saw him take a long route up the outside from Post 7 to finish just a neck shy of the winner.

“At Dresden he had a second over trip, he showed his class there,” says Newbigging. “We’ve never had him to the big track, we’ll have to try that after London maybe. I’ll have to talk to Ray (Bunn), see what he thinks.”

Ray Bunn trains New Cam, and the Denfield resident will hand the lines over to driver Bruce Richardson for Friday’s fourth race. From their Post 5 vantage point Richardson and New Cam will face off against six colts making their sophomore debut in the provincial program.

Seven of the nine division winners from Grand River will be in London pursuing a second deposit of 50 points in their Grassroots account. In Race 12 early season winners Immachulate and Be Bop For Life will go head to head from Posts 3 and 6, with former Gold Series competitor Go West Young Cam sandwiched in between them at Post 4.

Western Fair Raceway’s Friday evening program gets under way at 7:35 pm, and the three-year-old pacing colts will command the fans’ attention from Race 2 through Race 12.

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