Just one week after the Dream Of Glory, Ontario’s top three-year-old trotting colts return to Hanover Raceway this Saturday to compete for a total of $144,000 in Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots purse money

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Heading back to his hometown oval off a fourth-place finish in the Dream Of Glory Consolation, West Grey Bay is looking for another solid outing from Post 2 in the third $24,000 Grassroots division.

“He’s a pretty nice colt actually, he’s starting to trot a little better. He trotted in 1:59.4 at Hanover last Saturday night, so hopefully he’ll do good,” says Keith Hastie, who bred, owns and trains West Grey Bay. ”He’s just a green colt, he hasn’t had very many starts. He’s the third colt out of our mare, the first two are pretty nice horses too; I’m pretty sure he’s the best of the three.”

The Priceville, Ont. resident, who does all his own blacksmith work, has been tinkering with West Grey Bay’s shoeing in recent weeks and is hoping the gelding will be even sharper on Saturday due to a few changes.

“We’ve been doing some different things with his shoeing and we’ve got him where he’s not interfering,” explains the horseman. “I think he was slipping a bit before, and I think we’ve got that corrected.”

Hastie says the gelding is sound, healthy and ready for Saturday’s battle. Regular reinsman Stuart Sowerby will steer the son of Fiesty G G and Parkside Princess, and the trainer has complete confidence that the Guelph, Ont. resident will coax out West Grey Bay’s best effort.

“I really, really like Stuart’s driving, he’s good with a horse, he gets everything he can out of it but he doesn’t abuse them either, if you know what I mean. He’s just got a nice set of hands I think,” says Hastie. “I’m a hands-on trainer and I like a hands-on driver; Stuart and I seem to be a real good fit.”

With Sowerby in the race bike for all but two of his nine starts this season, West Grey Bay has tallied two wins — both legs of the Central Huron Trotting Series at Clinton Raceway — and one third for earnings of $12,892. In the Grassroots season opener at Kawartha Downs on June 25, the gelding finished fifth and he was sixth in the second event of the series at Hiawatha Horse Park on July 7.

“He’s nice and sound and he’s learning,” notes Hastie. “We’ll keep going with him. If he does good Saturday night, we’ll take him up to Sudbury.”

One thing the horseman would like to see West Grey Bay learn to do is hustle away from the starting gate. In most of his starts thus far the gelding has hit the opening quarter an average of eight lengths off the pace. However, Hastie admits that he would rather see the gelding sprint home and pick up a cheque — he’s only missed three this season — than squander an early lead and come home empty-handed.

“He just hasn’t got it quite all together with the leaving business, but he’s finishing pretty good. That’s my preference — leaving and not getting any money is no good either,” says the longtime horseman.

“He’s been finishing real good, so I’m quite happy with that.“I don’t worry too much, I let Stuart do the planning,” he adds. “I just do all I can to get them ready, and he seems like he’s ready enough to race good Saturday.”

Among the colts Sowerby and West Grey Bay will face in Saturday’s sixth race are former Gold Series competitor Twin B Herbie from Post 1 and division co-leader Count Strike from Post 4.

The three-year-old trotting colts will also be featured in Races 3, 5, 7, 8, and 10 on Hanover Raceway’s Saturday evening program, which sees the first race roll in behind the gate at 7:15 p.m.

In addition to cheering home their favourites, Hanover Raceway fans will be able to get in on the action with the second opportunity to qualify for the Win The Thrill promotion. In the designated Win The Thrill race, one fan from each horse’s ballot box will earn a Hanover Raceway betting voucher and a shot at the Grand Prize of one share in the Standardbred Breeders of Ontario Association’s (SBOA) New Owner Mentoring Program.

On Grassroots Championship night at Mohawk Racetrack on October 1, the finalists from all three Win The Thrill nights at Hanover Raceway, along with the finalists from the other participating racetracks, can enter to win a spot in the exciting New Owner Mentoring Program. Along with eight other new owners who have purchased a share, the grand prize winner will learn alongside trainer Tony O’Sullivan and longtime owner Brian Webster as an Ontario-sired yearling is purchased, trained and prepared for a racing career.

More information about the Win The Thrill contest and the SBOA New Owner Mentoring program is available at www.ontariosiresstakes.com and www.standardbredbreeders.com. Ballots and details are available in the official Hanover Raceway program.

To view Saturday's harness racing entries, click on the following link: Saturday Entries - Hanover Raceway.

(OSS)