Mark Horner will harness three starters in Sunday’s two-year-old pacing filly Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots event at Clinton Raceway, and the pragmatic trainer says two are still works in progress, while the other is

shaping up to be a legitimate freshman contender.

“Looking at the races, at the way the three of them set up, our hopes are on the Maverick filly to step up,” says the St. Marys, ON resident of Carsons Maverick. “I think she’s ready to be heard from. She should go as fast around Clinton as she did at Kawartha.”

The daughter of Western Maverick and Cammelloni will make her second Grassroots start from Post 3 in the ninth race, and Horner expects a sharper effort from the youngster than she delivered in her provincial debut at Kawartha Downs on August 28. Starting from Post 3, driver Mike Horner allowed Carsons Maverick to ease away from the starting gate and sat near the back of the field through much of the mile, then asked her for a burst of speed through the final quarter. Carsons Maverick responded with a :28.2 last quarter that propelled her from last to fifth, just two and one-half lengths behind the winner in the 1:59.2 mile.

That effort was the filly’s second lifetime start — she was sixth at Flamboro Downs in an August 20 overnight, clocked in 2:01.4 — and marked the third straight week she carved a full second off her time. In her August 12 qualifier at Hiawatha Horse Park Carsons Maverick suffered interference in the final turn and still managed to hit the wire in 2:03.1.

“She’s a nice, straight forward, smart filly. She has the right mind set to be a two-year-old,” notes Horner, who conditions the filly for David Carson of Listowel, ON. “Nothing bothers her and she is good gaited.”

Carson also bred and owns Carsons Satin, who makes her first lifetime start from Post 4 in the third $24,000 Grassroots division. The daughter of Apaches Fame and Kera Silk heads into the Grassroots test off a runner-up finish in an August 29 qualifier at Clinton, where she paced her own mile in 2:04.2 in spite of suffering interference in the first turn.

“She’ll be better than she was in her qualifier,” predicts Horner. “But she’s ready to pace in 2:00 or 2:01 over there, not 1:57 or 1:58. She should be okay if she minds her manners and does things right.”

The third member of Horner’s trio is Umygeorgia Hanover, a veteran of three Grassroots events who has been an ongoing project for Horner and his staff since she qualified at Hiawatha Horse Park on June 24.

“She’s had some steering issues and she likes to look at things — tractors and shadows and stuff like that,” says the horseman. “It’s hard to get them hung up at home when they’re two-year-olds and they change every time you go away.

“She’s had issues with not wanting to keep up because of the dirt hitting her in the face,” he adds, noting that the addition of a screen seemed to help in the August 28 event at Kawartha Downs, where Umygeorgia Hanover finished seventh with a 1:58.1 effort in one of the fastest divisions.

St. Marys resident Mike Horner will steer Umygeorgia Hanover from the trailing Post 8 in the second division Sunday, and her trainer is hoping she can keep up with the Grassroots heavyweights that will be lined up in front of her.

“She is in pretty tough. The one, two and three in there are pretty rugged,” says Horner of The Big Macher (Post 1), Epoxy Queen (Post 2) and Lucky Taryn (Post 3). “We’ll hope to get away tight behind them and get a chunk of it.”

Horner shares ownership on Umygeorgia Hanover with his partner in Sure Gain Stable, Charles Dolmage of Mitchell, ON. The pair acquired the daughter of Camluck and $135,484 winner Up Front Georgia at last fall’s Harrisburg Yearling Sale for a modest $12,000.

“She was pretty cheap for what she is,” notes Horner. “I made one bid on her and I couldn’t believe we got her for that.

“We’re hoping she shows some steady improvement, which she has,” he adds. “She’s just kind of been a slow learner at the track. She is a work in progress, and hopefully we’re heading in the right direction.”

Umygeorgia Hanover and her peers will show off their ever growing skills in Races 2, 3, 4, 9 and 10 on Clinton Raceway’s Sunday afternoon program, which gets under way at 1:30 p.m.

To view Sunday's entries, click here.

(OSS)