DRESDEN, ON — Ontario Sires Stakes excitement makes its 2004 debut at Dresden Raceway on Monday and to celebrate the arrival of the province’s top three-year-old trotting colts fans will enjoy a fun-filled afternoon of great deals and prize draws.
While the trotting colts compete in seven Grassroots divisions worth a total of $105,000, fans can take advantage of special $1 prices on hats, hot dogs, pop and chips, purchase a Dresden Raceway T-shirt for just $2 and enter to win a bicycle, television or betting voucher.
Hoping to hear his name announced as a lucky winner is trainer George McClure who sends a pair of colts into the fray Monday. King Anthony will try and take advantage of Post 1 in the second race, while Crown Meadow looks for his second win of the season from Post 6 in Race 8.
“If one of them had to have the six-hole I’m glad it was Crown Meadow. I always hope for the four or five-hole with him,” says the Clinton resident, who shares ownership on the colts with his wife Catherine and children Darcy and Dustin. “He has trouble on the rail.”
A 2:01.4 winner at Hiawatha Horse Park on May 1, Crown Meadow heads into the Grassroots season opener off a miscue at Western Fair Raceway on May 11, but McClure is confident the Wesgate Crown son will be back on his game at Dresden.
“He had a bad go in London last time, he just wasn’t himself,” says the trainer. “But I trained him today (Wednesday) and he trained really good.
“And he’ll be better with the other one going. He gets nervous when he trailers alone.”
King Anthony prepped for Monday’s event with a May 16 start around the Dresden oval, finishing second by a head in a 2:05.4 mile. Another son of Wesgate Crown, King Anthony has one win, two seconds and a third to his credit in four starts this season, all over half-mile tracks.
“He’s been racing good,” says McClure. “He’s actually my wife’s horse. She picked him out, $2,600 at the Northern Sale. We went to get Crown Meadow and after we bought him I said, “Let’s go home,” and she said, “Not if we have enough money left to buy the other one.”
King Anthony raced seven times as a two-year-old, but struggled at the end of his miles until he was diagnosed with a thyroid disorder.
“It was actually Dr. George Elliott, an 82-year-old veterinarian, who told me to check that,” recalls McClure. “We treat him with a powder in his food every day and it seems to be really helping him.”
The colt will be looking for his first taste of Grassroots success on Monday and will face three stars from last season’s Grassroots Series — Nichols Lavec from Post 2, Knockout from Post 6 and Shady Suspect from Post 8.
Racing action gets under way at 1 pm on the holiday Monday program, with the three-year-old trotting colts set to impress Dresden Raceway fans in Races 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12.