A trio of $24,000 Grassroots divisions of the Ontario Sires Stakes for three-year-old trotting colts will headline Sudbury Downs' program this Saturday, and all of the

top colts will be in town in hopes of securing a few more points toward the lucrative post season.

With 62 points earned in the first half of the season, trainer Ted Jacobs knows Assignment is going to need a few more to lock up a berth in the semifinal for the second straight year. At two, the son of Ken Warkentin captured his semifinal over Western Fair Raceway's half-mile course and finished third in the $100,000 championship, and Jacobs would love to see him have a chance to match that result.

“He just missed in the $100,000 final last year, and he’s picked it up a little bit,” the St. Catharines resident said. “We’re hoping we can make the final this year; get enough points.”

Assignment will face a tough task in the second division on Saturday, where he will be making his bid for a top-five finish from the outside Post 8. The colt has seen more of the outer half of the starting gate this season than the inside, and has still managed to post a record of two wins, four seconds and one third from seven starts, adding another $41,880 to the $75,000 he earned at two. In his most recent outing, an August 12 overnight at Mohawk Racetrack, Assignment and driver Chris Christoforou started from Post 9 and sprinted down the stretch to secure a neck victory in 1:56.2. Two weeks earlier, the colt and driver Randy Waples started from the same post at Mohawk and employed the same strategy to achieve the same result in a personal best 1:55.3.

“He took a new record of 1:55.3 out of the nine-hole at Mohawk and he really went a big mile,” said Jacobs, who conditions the colt for owner-breeder Glen Campbell of Kingston, Ont.

“He seems to know how to get up the stretch. He’s come some good last quarters,” the horseman added.

Jacobs, who will steer the colt himself on Saturday, says Assignment’s success from the outer half of the starting gate this season stems from the colt’s ability to tough it out in the outer flow of a race. The veteran reinsman says the lanky youngster should be able to handle whatever the rest of the field throws at him on Saturday.

“He’s kind of a grinder type of horse, he doesn’t need a perfect trip,” Jacobs explained. “It takes him a while to get going, but once you get him going he just keeps coming.”

Although Assignment is a tough customer on the racetrack, Jacobs says the colt is more like a pussycat around the barn.

“For the size of him, he’s just a nice, big quiet horse,” the trainer said. “He hasn’t got a mean bone in his body.”

Jacobs says the colt is easy to ship and will be heading north either Friday evening or early Saturday morning, in time for an afternoon nap before he takes on the sixth race field. Among the colts Assignment faces in the second Grassroots division are locally-owned Windsun Tudor, who will start from Post 1 for owner-trainer-driver Wayne MacLean of Chelmsford, Ont., and the No. 4 colt in the standings, Major Herbie, who will start from Post 3.

Sudbury Downs will send its first race behind the gate at 7:15 p.m., and will turn the spotlight on the province’s talented three-year-old trotting colts in Races 4, 6, and 8.

To view the harness racing entries for this Saturday at Sudbury Downs, click the following link: Saturday - Sudbury Downs.

(OSS)