SUDBURY, ON — Sudbury Downs wraps up its 2004 Ontario Sires Stakes season on Saturday with four Grassroots divisions for the two-year-old trotting fillies.
Larry Walker, who recently achieved the $20 million in earnings as a driver, will start a trio of talented fillies in the last regular season event and all three are poised to advance to the Oct. 28 Grassroots Semifinal at Hiawatha Horse Park. Eager Lois currently sits second in the standings with 158 points, Win Some Way is eighth with 90 points and Draven is twelfth with 70 points.
“Draven is the one I would like get some more points with,” says Walker. “The other two are pretty well set.”
Draven will attempt to shore up her point tally from Post 3 in Race 8. The Berndt Hanover daughter has made just three starts in the Grassroots program after starting the season at the Gold Series level.
“I tried the Gold and she was fairly successful, but she got sick and wasn’t quite as good afterward,” says the Morriston resident, who trains Draven for long time owners Gresta Limited of Hanover.
Through three starts in the Gold Series the filly posted a second in the July 23 Gold Elimination at Grand River Raceway and a fourth in the Aug. 2 Final. At the Grassroots level she has one win, one third and one fourth-place finish, but Walker is not hopeful for a second victory on Saturday.
“Draven’s in with Harald Lunde’s filly (Whispering Girl, Post 4). She won in 2:03.2 at Grand River,” says the veteran horseman. “I was hoping she would go to the Gold.”
The trainer-driver also faces a tough field in the fifth race with Win Some Way. The Angus Hall daughter will start from Post 2 with division leader Taylorlane Bliss on her left from Post 1.
Win Some Way has not missed a Grassroots start this season, posting one win, two thirds and two fourths. The ultra consistent filly is owned by David Bradshaw of Wilsonville and Walker hopes she will evolve into a gifted three-year-old.
“She’s smallish, but she’s got a beautiful gait. She just gets a little tired at the end,” he says. “She’s got lots of speed.”
Walker is also looking forward to the long term prospects for Eager Lois, who he bred and owns in partnership with Henri Pouliot of London. The leggiest filly of the three, the Eager Seelster daughter has accumulated two wins, two seconds and one fourth in Grassroots action this summer and will be among the fillies to watch in the Grassroots post season.
“She’s really big. I don’t think the bigger track will hurt her,” says the conditioner. “But she doesn’t have too much speed, she’s just kind of a grinder.”
Sudbury Downs sends its first race to the past at 6:55 on Saturday evening and turns the spotlight on the two-year-old trotting fillies in Races 2, 5, 8, and 11.