DUNDAS, ON — The top two-year-old pacing colts return to Ontario Sires Stakes action on Sunday evening at Flamboro Downs, with four divisions of youngsters competing for a total of $129,536.

Trainer Ben Wallace will harness a pair of colts making their debut in the Gold Series, sending out Grand Hall from Post 2 in the second race and Armbro Balmoral from Post 5 in the seventh.

“Both horses I’m taking over there are just nice useful horses,” says the Milton resident. “They’re not exciting, but I think they’ll both turn into nice horses.”

Grand Hall heads into the first Gold Elimination off a 1:56.4 victory in a two-year-old conditioned race at Woodbine Racetrack on Aug. 4 and Wallace says the entire performance was the best effort he has seen from the Camluck son to date.

“He raced great his last start. He warmed up the best he’s ever been and he raced that way,” says the veteran trainer. “He’s just a big, green Camluck colt but I thought he was deserving of a shot in there (Gold Series).”

Wallace shares ownership on Grand Hall with Tony Aarts of Putnam and Jeffrey Langfelder of Atlanta, GA. The trio offered up $42,000 for the colt at last fall’s Forest City Yearling Sale based on his appearance and pedigree.

“His mother is a sister to Town Pro and he just looked like a big rugged horse that could grow into something useful,” recalls Wallace. “He looked like he had some raw ability.”

Wallace was attracted to Armbro Balmoral, a $65,000 acquisition at the Forest City Sale, for similar reasons. The good looking son of Camluck and Miss Emily Hanover’s siblings include horses like $316,671 winner Armbro Over and $153,819 winner Jates Destiny.

Although Armbro Balmoral will be making his first start in the Gold Series Sunday, he faced many of the program’s regulars in the Battle of Waterloo at Elmira Raceway on July 25 and Aug. 4. In both his elimination and the Battle of Waterloo consolation the colt finished third, in spite of less that ideal racing luck, convincing Wallace that a trip to the Gold Series was in order.

“He raced great in Sarnia (July 17) over a sloppy track,” says Wallace, who conditions the colt for Barnett Zimmerman LLC of Deerfield, IL. “In the Battle of Waterloo he had the six-hole in the elimination and the horse beside him made a break and he got bumped a little in the first turn so he didn’t make the Final.

“The second week he had the eight-hole, and trailing you’re sort of at the will of what happens up front and a few of them got jammed up there, but he was still one of the last men standing and I thought he deserved a shot.”

Chris Christoforou will pilot Grand Hall on Sunday and Keith Oliver will handle the lines on Armbro Balmoral, who will face reigning Gold Final champion Putasmileon from Post 4.

Flamboro Downs kicks off its Sunday evening program at 6:20 pm, with the two-year-old pacing colts battling for one of eight Gold Final spots in Races 2, 5, 7, and 10. The top two finishers from each elimination will return to the Dundas half-mile on Sunday, Aug. 17, part of the track’s always popular Confederation Cup program.