Twin B Wrangler already has one Grassroots trophy to his credit as he prepares to compete in the third event of the season at Grand River Raceway, but trainer Travis Umphrey has limited confidence that the three-year-old pacing gelding will collect another on Monday.

“He looked so good last fall, when we quit with him as a two-year-old. He won that Autumn Series and did it easily and I thought we had a hell of a nice colt on our hands,” says Umphrey. “He looks the part of a good colt --- he’s got a big gait, big strong colt --- but he just hasn’t, mentally he’s not there.

“He’s a bit on the sulky side,” he adds.

Aside from Twin B Wrangler’s attitude, Umphrey sees the gelding’s post --- he will line up behind No. 6 on Grand River’s starting gate --- the fact that he has not raced in three weeks, and the depth of the competition in the eighth race to be three major hurdles standing in the way of a second Grassroots trophy.

The son of Mach Three and Stryper prefers to be close to the pace --- his Grassroots victory at Clinton Raceway in the June 10 season opener saw the gelding control the tempo and sail home a four-length winner in 1:56 --- and Post 6 may make that difficult. The gelding may need a race to return to maximum fitness after his three week layoff, and he faces a tough field of colts which includes former Gold Series competitor Daniel Semalu at Post 5.

“He needs to be close, he will not come from behind. Unfortunately, he looks like he’s a one-dimensional horse,” laments the resident of Guelph, Ont., who shares ownership of Twin B Wrangler with Mac Nichol of Burlington and Derek Wilson of Okotoks, Alberta.

“It looks pretty tough. Rene Dion has a nice colt (Daniel Semalu) in there by the looks of it and he’s drawn inside of us,” adds the trainer. “I think our colt’s going to need a lot of luck in there.”

Umphrey and his partners purchased Twin B Wrangler privately last June and after the gelding swept the Autumn Series at Woodbine Racetrack last fall, recording a personal best 1:53 in the elimination, they had their eyes focused on the Gold Series. Unfortunately, Twin B Wrangler struggled through his early sophomore starts at Woodbine and Mohawk Racetracks, and they were forced to downgrade their expectations.

After the promising debut at Clinton, Twin B Wrangler landed the trailing Post 9 at Sudbury Downs for the second Grassroots event and ran into some traffic trouble, finishing four and three-quarter lengths off the pace in sixth. Back at Mohawk for a July 2 overnight event the gelding delivered a lacklustre effort and finished ninth by 19 lengths.

“The last start there we made some equipment changes that didn’t work out too well. I had him up at the vet today (Thursday) and we did some work on him,” notes the trainer. “Hopefully we’re going in the right direction here.

“We didn’t buy this colt for it to be a Grassroots colt, but unfortunately that’s where we’re at,” he adds, frankly.

Currently in a tie for ninth spot in the divisional standings, Twin B Wrangler will soon need to add a few more Grassroots points to his tally in order to keep his hopes for a post-season berth alive.

Division leaders Fiesty Flyer and Addwater will be looking to maintain their flawless records at Grand River on Monday. Fiesty Flyer makes his bid for a third straight Grassroots victory from Post 2 in the first $24,000 division, slated as Race 2 on the 7:05 p.m. program, while Addwater gets Post 6 in the third race.

The other three-year-old pacing colt Grassroots divisions will go postward as Races 4 and 6 though 11.

To view the harness racing entries for Monday at Grand River, click the following link: Monday Entries - Grand River Raceway.

(OSS)