Hiawatha Horse Park will host the final stop of the Ontario Sires Stakes 50th Anniversary celebration tour on Saturday, Sept. 7.

The 11-race card will be highlighted by three $20,000 OSS Grassroots Series divisions for two-year-old filly trotters.

Of note for Saturday’s card, there will be a driver who will be competing in all 11 races: Garrett Rooney.

Based in Iona, Ont., Rooney drives horses at many local tracks nearby, including Hiawatha Horse Park, just an hour away.

With three Grassroots divisions to compete in, Rooney is looking forward to Saturday’s card.

“I like it when some of the Sires Stakes come to Hiawatha or Sarnia or Dresden, and places like that, and I can get the opportunity to drive some stakes horses because I wouldn’t get the opportunity otherwise,” said Rooney.

The Grassroots Series divisions on Saturday are scheduled for Races 2, 5 and 7. As luck would have it, Rooney is getting the opportunity to drive a couple of 2-1 morning line favourites in Muscle Mass daughters Incantation and Eartha K in Races 2 and 5. 

“I always seem to have luck [at Hiawatha] and I always seem to have a good run,” said Rooney, who is the 2024 meet-leading driver with 52 wins, more than double his nearest competitor.

Incantation, who boasts a Grand Circuit stakes win in the Tompkin-Geers at Woodbine Mohawk Park in late June, is being trained by Jeff Williams. He is a homebred of the late Bob McIntosh of Robert McIntosh Stables Inc. from Windsor, Ont. and is co-owned by Tyrone Valley Farm of Bowmanville, Ont.

Eartha K, a maiden filly who has hit the board in three prior Grassroots legs, is being trained by Stephen Bossence for owners Derek Reid of Etobicoke, Ont., Dr. Robert Boyce of London, Ont., Richard Thompson of London, Ont., and E C S Racing of Rockford, Michigan. She was bred by Robert and Joan Boyce.

In the final Grassroots division of the night, Rooney will be in the sulky behind three-time starter Princess Dream, another Muscle Mass daughter but listed as 8-1 on the morning line. After a recent conversation Rooney had with Princess Dream trainer Dominic Gladu, however, he’s feeling confident the rookie filly has more to give than she’s shown so far in her young career.

“I did talk to Dominic Gladu last night and he really liked her training down, but she got injured in the stall, which kind of put her behind,” explained Rooney. “But he thinks that she’s starting to catch up and getting tightened up now, and he thinks she’ll be OK.”

Princess Dream is owned by Thestable Princess Dream of Guelph, Ont. and Hutchison Harness of North Ridgeville, Ohio. She was bred by Warrawee Farm of Rockwood, Ont.

In advance of Saturday’s celebrations, noted Canadian harness racing writer and historian Robert Smith wrote a brief history of Hiawatha Horse Park that you can read by clicking here.

Post time for Saturday at Hiawatha is 6:30 p.m. Live streaming of the races is available on the Hiawatha Horse Park Youtube channel and HPIbet. 

To view Saturday's harness racing entries, click the following link: Saturday Entries - Hiawatha Horse Park.

(With files from Ontario Racing)