GLOUCESTER, ON — When the Ontario Sires Stakes season started, trainer John MacMillan did not expect to be racing any horses in Thursday’s three-year-old pacing colt Grassroots event at Rideau Carleton Raceway. Four months and a few pleasant surprises later, and the Spencerville resident will start not just one, but two colts in the $112,000 event.

Coit Hanover will start from Post 3 in the first $18,603 division, and MacMillan is hoping the Astreos son can deliver the kind of result he has been posting in overnight action at Rideau Carleton in the last nine weeks.

“He’s won six of his last seven,” explains MacMillan. “We bought him about two months ago, we thought he would be a good overnight horse at Rideau Carleton. He’s exceeded expectations and he’s definitely on top of his game right now.”

Since MacMillan, Jack Gregory of Mt. Albert, Robert Cochrane of Gananoque and Sweet Serenity Stable of Kingston purchased Coit Hanover in mid-July, the gelding has logged six wins and one second, earned $27,850 and paced around the Ottawa oval in 1:53.4. Driver Ted McDonald has controlled the pace in most of the gelding’s races, but MacMillan says Coit Hanover is very versatile and should be able to adapt to whatever his Grassroots peers dish up on Thursday.

“He pretty versatile, he can race from the front or off the race,” says the trainer. “I don’t think there’s a lot of early speed so you might see him on the front again.

“It looks like, not just the one he’s in, all of the divisions look like better horses than I’m used to seeing in the Grassroots,” adds MacMillan. “I know he’s listed as the favourite, but he’s going to have to be at his best to beat them.”

While MacMillan and his partners have been singing the praises of Coit Hanover since he arrived in the barn, the horseman says that recent arrival Gimme A Grin is a fundamentally different sort of horse. Where Coit Hanover is perfectly behaved and easy to get along with, Gimme A Grin is aggressive and difficult.

“Coit Hanover is the perfect horse. The little kids from the neighbourhood could come and drive him and train him,” says MacMillan. “The other one is the most aggravating horse in the barn. If he races well, we’ll put up with it, if not he’ll probably be a gelding soon.”

Gimme A Grin shipped into MacMillan’s barn last week to prepare for Thursday’s Grassroots event, and MacMillan says the son of Grinfromeartoear and former Gold Series competitor Rookies Luck seems to have benefited from the change in scenery.

“We trained him around the farm track Monday morning faster than we’ve ever trained a horse there,” he explains. “He hadn’t raced for a while and we wanted to make sure he was tight, and make sure we had him set up right for Rideau.

“I see they list him at 8 to 1, but if we get a good trip, I think he’s got a good chance,” MacMillan continues. “I just hope he’s not a morning glory.”

McDonald will pilot Gimme A Grin from Post 4 in the last Grassroots division on Thursday. The colt will be making his first start since an Aug. 19 conditioned event at Mohawk Racetrack where he finished tenth. Through 11 starts this season, Gimme A Grin has recorded just one win, one second and two thirds for owner The Merks Stable of New York, NY.

MacMillan’s entry, and the other three-year-old pacing colts, will wage their second last Grassroots battle in Races 2, 4, 5, 7, 10 and 11 on Rideau Carleton Raceway’s Thursday, Sept. 13 program. The Ottawa oval marshal’s its first race in behind the starting gate at 6:30 pm.

For complete entries please go to:

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