John Rier has been excited about the prospect of racing an offspring of his mare Hetties Charm since he purchased her as a yearling, but the Kitchener, Ont. resident has been forced to moderate his enthusiasm

due to the temperament bestowed on her first-born, two-year-old trotting colt Charmbo Tie, who makes his third Grassroots start at Grand River Raceway on Friday.

"I bought his mother like six years ago for $50,000, which is way out of my price range," recalls Rier. "She made $170,000 or $180,000 racing and at four or so, she was not making so much racing any more, so I bred her to Ken Warkentin.

"I was really happy with this colt from the day he was born."

Charmbo Tie was an easy going colt to break, but his easy going nature presented Rier with a few challenges as he tried to build up the colt’s endurance through the winter months.

"He’s a nice big colt, very lazy and very friendly," says Rier, who shares ownership of Charmbo Tie with his brother Randy Rier of Hanover. "Jogging him all winter was hard work. If you stopped chasing him, he stopped and walked. He was not really ambitious."

Charmbo Tie made his qualifying debut at Hanover Raceway on July 11, touring the half-mile in a steady 2:10.2. Rier sent the youngster back to the qualifying ranks on July 18 and Charmbo Tie stepped up the tempo, reaching the wire in 2:03.4. Off that effort Rier opted for an overnight event at Hanover on July 29, but the youngster ran into some traffic trouble and made a break, finishing third and getting placed back to sixth.

The youngster shipped into Sudbury Downs for his Grassroots debut on Aug. 2 and laid down his best effort to date, reaching the wire on top in 2:05.4, but was ruled to have caused interference at the head of the lane and was set back to fourth. Back to the overnight ranks at Hanover on Aug. 26, Charmbo Tie finished second by a nose in 2:06, and then took his second stab at the Grassroots ranks on Sept. 7 at Dresden Raceway. Sitting on the outside through the entire mile the trotter finished third.

"He’s a long way from a racehorse yet. The gate leaves and he looks at the others and says, ‘Where are you all going?’" says Rier ironically. "In Dresden he left out of there and he couldn’t make the top, well he could have if he’d tried, but he didn’t really care if he made the front. He floated along on the outside all the way and still came a last quarter in :30.2.

"He’s had a lot of hard luck and a lot of set backs, but he’s a nice colt, any Mennonite would be glad to take their potatoes to town with him," says the trainer with a wry chuckle. "Anyone could drive him, he’s not going to run away, he’ll just head for the nearest feed bucket."

In between the gelding’s visits to the feed trough, Rier has glimpsed moments of raw talent that are enough to keep the flame of excitement alive, albeit on a low setting.

"I’m hoping he’ll learn how to race and use some of that speed we’ve seen in short spurts," he says.

Rier’s expectations for Friday’s performance were tempered by the post position draw, which will see Ross Battin steer Charmbo Tie from Post 8 in the seventh race, facing off against a tough field that includes the fifth ranked Up To Speed from Post 4 and former Gold Series competitor Markofdistinction from Post 6.

Grand River Raceway’s Friday evening program of harness racing will see the two-year-old trotting colts kick things off in the first race at 6:31 pm, and also compete in Races 2, 3, 5, 7, and 8.

(OSS)