Last fall Bill Manes bought a share in two yearlings, and on Saturday evening the Rockwood resident will be in the enviable position of having two horses to cheer for when both Life Signature and Red Carpet Dude parade

onto Mohawk Racetrack for the freshman pacing colt Grassroots Final.

“These are the two we started out with and they both made it,” marvels Manes. “It’s the first time we’ve had anything in there (Grassroots Finals), and we’ve got two — inside and outside.”

Life Signature will benefit from Post 1 in the $100,000 final, while Red Carpet Dude has to contend with Post 9. Manes says both geldings raced well in their respective Semifinals, but he gives the edge to Life Signature at this stage in the season, and not just because of the post position draw.

“Red Carpet Dude was good right from Day 1, where the other guy was kind of fumbly-gaited,” recalls the owner. “We paid Red Carpet Dude in to a lot of stuff, but in probably the last three starts, or four starts, the other guy is coming right around.”

The pair trained down together at the owner’s training centre, Manestreet Stables; Life Signature under the tutelage of Andrew McCabe and Red Carpet Dude guided by Shaun McDonald. Saturday marks the first appearance in a Grassroots Final for both trainers, who also make their homes in Rockwood.

“They both did a good job,” says Manes of the young horsemen, who work for Wallenstein resident Robert Schlegel’s Glenview Livestock Ltd., his partner on Red Carpet Dude.

A $60,000 purchase out of last fall’s Lexington Select Yearling Sale, Red Carpet Dude is the first foal from a half-sister to $1.1 million winner Lady Graceful. The Camluck son started his career in the July 12 Grassroots event at Georgian Downs, finishing fourth, and then tackled the province’s top colts in the Battle Of Waterloo at Grand River Raceway, finishing third in his elimination and fourth in the $300,000 final.

A Grassroots victory at Rideau Carleton Raceway was followed by a shot at North America’s best colts in an elimination for the Metro Pace at Mohawk, where Red Carpet Dude finished seventh. A second Grassroots win over the Dresden Raceway oval came on Sept. 5, and a runner-up effort at Flamboro Downs on Sept. 16 secured the gelding’s berth in last week’s Semifinal where he finished fifth over a track rated one second slower than normal.

“The little guy, it was too heavy for him to slug I think,” says Manes of the footing. “I think he’s the faster of the two, and the more athletic, but what he gives up is size.”

Manes shares ownership of Life Signature with a group of friends, first time Standardbred owners Steven Brunelle of Grand Bend and Len Christopher of Acton, and second-time owner Steven Papillon of Acton. The group bought in on the Life Sign gelding after Manes and his brother Barry picked him out of the Forest City Yearling Sale for $30,000.

After logging one sixth, one third, one second and one fourth in his first four Grassroots appearances, Life Signature won his Sept. 16 division at Flamboro to secure a berth in last week’s Semifinal, where he finished a solid second to Secretsoftheknight.

The gelding’s owners have already reserved a table in Mohawk’s dining room for Saturday night’s festivities and Manes is confident that fun will be had by all, whether the colts arrive in the winner’s circle or not.

“It should be a fun night,” says Manes. “And then hopefully they both come back as decent three-year-olds.”

Trainer Carl Jamieson is also optimistic about the long-term prospects for his freshman trotting colts Ill Be There and Tymal Oh So Nice. Both colts captured their Semifinals last week, in 1:58.3 and 1:58.4 respectively, and will benefit from Posts 1 and 2 in Saturday’s $100,000 showdown.

“I was really pleased with their post positions,” says Jamieson.

“They’re both pretty nice horses. They should be good enough for the Golds next year,” adds the horseman. “If it wasn’t for sickness they would’ve been Gold horses still this year.”

Ill Be There and Tymal Oh So Nice made their Ontario Sires Stakes debuts in the Gold Series at Kawartha Downs on July 7, with Ill Be There finishing fifth in his elimination and Tymal Oh So Nice landing third-place honours in his split. Tymal Oh So Nice was then scratched sick out of the Gold Final, beginning a near six week battle with a virus.

The Striking Sahbra son made his next appearance in the Aug. 3 Grassroots event at Grand River Raceway, but finished a tired sixth, so Jamieson waited three more weeks before sending the colt behind the gate for his third lifetime start. Tymal Oh So Nice won that Aug. 26 overnight event at Mohawk and then captured his Grassroots division at Georgian Downs on Sept. 6. He finished up the regular season with a runner-up showing at Rideau Carleton Raceway on Sept. 16.

From Kawartha, Ill Be There went to an overnight event at Mohawk on July 28, where he finished second, and then delivered two straight Grassroots victories at Grand River on Aug. 3 and Kawartha on Aug. 11. Off those victories Jamieson decided to give the Kadabra son a second shot at the Gold Series colts and Ill Be There finished third in an Aug. 19 Gold Elimination at Mohawk, but made a break in the Final and soon proved to have caught the bug his stablemate had been battling.

Scratched out of the Sept. 6 Grassroots event at Georgian Downs, and a lacklustre fifth at Rideau Carleton in the Sept. 16 season finale, Ill Be There was back on form for last week’s Semifinal.

“They’re both pretty nice gaited, they both have gate speed, one wears trotting hopples (Tymal Oh So Nice) and one doesn’t,” notes Jamieson. “All winter I thought Ill Be There (was the better colt), but I think Tymal is the nicest coming along.”

The Princeton resident shares ownership of Ill Be There with Tom Kyron of Toronto, and the longtime partners co-own Tymal Oh So Nice with Douglas Good of Chatham and Brian Paquet of Quebec, QC.

Jamieson’s son Jody piloted both colts to victory in last week’s Semifinal, but other driving engagements will take him to Kentucky Saturday, so Scott Zeron will steer Ill Be There from Post 1 and Mark MacDonald will handle the lines on Tymal Oh So Nice from Post 2.

The two-year-old pacing colts will be featured in Race 3 and the two-year-old trotting colts will battle in Race 4 on Saturday evening. The freshman trotting fillies kick off the Grassroots Championships in Race 2, with the other five $100,000 battles going postward in Races 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10.

Mohawk Racetrack sends its first race behind the starting gate at 7:10 p.m.

(OSS)

To view entries for Saturday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Saturday Entries – Mohawk Racetrack.