Mike Keeling is heading to Clinton Raceway on Sunday with a trio of three-year-old trotting colts hoping to pad their Grassroots resumes.

Our Mojo bats lead off for the Keeling team, and the gelding will be looking for his third Grassroots trophy from Post 3 in the first $24,000 division. The son of Kadabra heads into Sunday’s test off a runner-up effort in Grassroots action at Kawartha Downs on Aug. 11.

“As a three-year-old he’s become a lot more 'racy,'” says Keeling, who conditions Our Mojo for the Caveator Stable of Hamilton, Ont.

“I think he’s in the toughest division, though. There are two or three in there, a couple of them won the other night up at Kawartha,” he adds.

The colt that bested Our Mojo at Kawartha, Cool Creek Magic, will be looking for a repeat performance from Post 6 and Ill Be There at Post 2 was also a winner in the Aug. 11 skirmish.

While he was not on hand for the Kawartha event, London, Ont. resident Ted Taylor is looking forward to watching Our Mojo compete in Clinton. A member of the Caveator Stable, the tenth in a series of new owner mentoring groups created by the Standardbred Breeders of Ontario Association, Taylor has thoroughly enjoyed learning the business from Our Mojo, owner mentor Dan Clark, and Keeling.

“We have Dan Clark as a mentor and he’s very knowledgeable and willing to explain things to the beginners,” says Taylor. “And Mike Keeling is an exceptional trainer.”

Our Mojo has provided the group of novice racehorse owners with two wins, three seconds and one third in 11 starts this season, adding $44,385 to the $6,840 he earned in five starts as a two-year-old. Although he lagged behind his stablemates last season, the son of Kadabra and Got Sno Socks is at the top of Keeling’s three-year-old trotting colt class and also sits atop the division standings with 125 Grassroots points.

Strike The Cheque led his stablemates as a two-year-old, tallying three Grassroots wins and $80,855 in earnings, but the gelding has struggled to regain his form this season. In the Kawartha event Strike The Cheque finished second and Keeling is hoping the homebred son of Striking Sahbra and Cheque Lavec can build on that effort in spite of being saddled with the outside Post 7 in the seventh race.

“He had the seven-hole as a two-year-old down there and won, so I guess he can overcome adversity,” says the trainer with a wry chuckle.

In an effort to address the issues that have plagued Strike The Cheque this season, Keeling pulled the gelding’s shoes before the Kawartha start and sent him in behind the gate barefoot. The gelding responded favourably, so Strike The Cheque will compete over the Clinton Raceway half-mile in a light set of plastic shoes.

Keeling shares ownership and breeding credit on Strike The Cheque with his father Ronald Keeling of Owen Sound, Ont. and wife Paula Wellwood of Cambridge, Ont. Through eight sophomore starts the gelding has added just one second to his resume, along with earnings of $9,635.

The final member of Keeling’s trotting trio is Pocket Passer, who has been a source of mild frustration for his trainer.

“The classic underperformer. He is the most talented of the three, with the least racing luck and the least courage,” Keeling explains. “He’s flawless, he does everything right, but he can’t make his own luck.”

At two, Pocket Passer posted one win, two seconds and one third in eight starts for earnings of $26,280. In 11 starts this season he has replicated that effort almost identically, scoring one win, two seconds, one third and $20,985 in earnings. The son of Ken Warkentin and Pocketfulloviolets will make his bid for a Grassroots trophy from Post 6 in the eleventh race.

“I think I’d rather have him on the outside of the gate,” says Keeling, who conditions the trotter for P C Wellwood Enterprises of Cambridge and Jim Winske of Marlborough, MA. “He likes to have free rein for the first quarter and then he’s better off.”

Pocket Passer also delivered his best Grassroots effort to date in the Kawartha Downs contest, hitting the wire third.

The talented three-year-old trotting colts will compete in Races 5 through 12 on Clinton Raceway’s Sunday afternoon program, which gets underway at 1:30 pm.

To view the harness racing entries for Sunday at Clinton, click the following link: Sunday Entries - Clinton Raceway.

(OSS)