The Ontario Sires Stakes 50th Anniversary Celebration tour will make a stop at Kawartha Downs on Friday, July 19 as part of an exciting event that will feature four Grassroots and three Prospect Series races.

All seven OSS races will be for two-year-old pacing fillies, with the Grassroots races awarding $20,000 purses and the Prospect Series races carrying $8,000 purses.

The Grassroots action kicks off Friday’s 11-race card with some local flavour in Forrest Leah (Bettors Delight-Lady Jake), who is trained and driven by John Thomson of nearby Peterborough, Ont. Thomson is also a co-owner of Forrest Leah, along with Larry Todd of Oakwood, Ont. Forrest Leah has begun her young career perfect in two starts, including a Grassroots Series score at Woodbine Mohawk Park last week. She was bred by M And L Of Delaware LLC of Wilmington, Delaware and Century Spring Farms of Gorrie, Ont.

The win Forrest Leah earned at Mohawk placed her in a tie with three other horses for top spot on the Grassroots leaderboard for two-year-old filly pacers. Two more of the leaders will be featured in Grassroots races on Friday with Tricky Wicky (McWicked-Dobre Povedane) and Saddlebags (Control The Moment-Twin B Virtue) competing in Races 3 and 5, respectively. Both are among the favourites according to the morning line odds coming into their respective divisions.

Tricky Wicky, a homebred for David and John Prushnok of Indiana, Pennsylvania, will be driven by Nicholas Boyd for trainer Rene Dion. Saddlebags is a Dave Menary-trained filly and will have Samuel Fillion in the sulky. She was bred by Princeton Farms Inc. of Princeton, Ont., and is owned by Menary Racing Inc. of Rockton, Ont., Larry Menary of Branchton, Ont., Ryan Morefield of Howell, Michigan and Denise Guerriero of Brampton, Ont.

Race 7 will conclude the quartet of Grassroots Series divisions.

The three Prospect Series events go in Races 2, 6 and 8, with Race 8 of particular interest because of morning line odds favourite April Shadows (Shadow Play-April May Dune) and her Lindsay, Ont.-based driver Reg Gassien.

Gassien doesn’t know too much about the filly and will be driving her for the first time on Friday, but will connect with trainer Jeffrey Taylor beforehand. The unfamiliarity with April Shadows shouldn’t be much of an issue for Gassien, however, because with the race being at Kawartha Downs, he’s within very familiar confines.

“I was there when [Kawartha Downs] started,” said Gassien. “It’s been a big part of my racing career. Once the slots came out in 2000, I just concentrated down there two days a week and just never bothered going anywhere else.”

The homefield advantage that Gassien enjoys at Kawartha has been to the benefit of many young pacers and trotters and April Shadows figures to be no different. She’s owned by her Gloucester, Ont. trainer along with Rosetown Stable of Stratford, P.E.I., and was bred by Winbak Farm of Chesapeake City, Maryland.

As part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations, fans coming down to enjoy the races will also be able to win prizes via giveaways, there will be activity books for the young ones and all ages can take in a timeline illustrating the 50-year history of the OSS.

“I’ve had lots of luck [competing in the OSS],” said Gassien. “I used to drive a lot for Jim Ainsworth, who raced a lot in the OSS, and I’ve [driven OSS races] at Kawartha Downs. When you’re there all the time, you sometimes pick up some drives in them. I picked up two that I won Golds with.”

In advance of Friday’s celebration, noted Canadian harness racing writer and historian Robert Smith wrote a brief history of Kawartha Downs that can be read by clicking here.

Post time for Friday at Kawartha is 7 p.m. Click here for a free program. Fans unable to attend the races in person can visit the Kawartha Downs Youtube channel for streaming information and make wagers via HPIBet.

To view Friday's harness racing entries, click the following link: Friday Entries - Kawartha Downs.

(With files from Ontario Racing)