LONDON, ON — Ontario’s three-year-old trotting colts open their Grassroots season at Western Fair Raceway on Tuesday, May 27, and Brent Belore is hoping Ballykeel Mike kicks off his sophomore campaign with a solid effort.

The young trotter will be aided in his quest for some Grassroots hardware by an advantageous post position draw. Ballykeel Mike will start from Post 1 in the third $20,000 Grassroots division, and Belore is hoping he can get the colt into the action early.

“He can leave. The only race he won, he cut the whole mile out,” says the Embro resident. “If he gets away good, they’ll have their work cut out for them.”

Belore adds the �if’ because the colt made a break at the start of his last race, May 19 at Dresden Raceway; the first error he has made all season. The Earl son made his sophomore debut at Flamboro Downs on Mar. 27 and has been showing steady improvement with each start. Racing at Woodbine Racetrack in the Tie Silk Series he dropped a second off his personal best effort with in each leg, and closed hard to grab the last cheque in the April 24 final.

Ballykeel Racing of Tillsonburg bred and own the colt, who was on the cusp of getting a shot at the Gold Series after his efforts in the Tie Silk.

“We almost put him in the Gold,” explains Belore. “If he had picked up a cheque in his last start at Mohawk (May 12), we were going to try the Gold.

“He has raced pretty good. He’s got beat, but he’s raced pretty good,” adds the trainer-driver. “He trotted his last half in :55 and a bit a few starts back.”

As a two-year-old Ballykeel Mike captured a Grassroots event in late October and scored one second and two thirds for earnings of $25,576. Through seven starts this season the trotter has only managed a trio of fifth-place finishes, but Belore is confident that a top showing at Western Fair is within the colt’s reach.

Of the six trotters who will line up to Ballykeel Mike’s right on Tuesday, only Sno Long Boys at Post 7 was a regular on the provincial circuit last season. The other five colts average just over four starts lifetime.

Freshman Grassroots champion The Mash Potato made the leap up to the Gold Series this spring, leaving runner-up Canadan Frontier as the big gun heading into the season opener. Komoka resident Dave Wall will steer Canadian Frontier from Post 4 in the first race on Tuesday and the Dr Ronerail son rolls into the $20,000 skirmish off a 1:58 victory at Vernon Downs on May 16.

The three-year-old trotting colts will battle in Races 1, 2, 3 and 6 through 9 on Western Fair Raceway’s Tuesday evening program, which gets under way at 4:05 pm.

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