Cams Macharena and Sly Ruler may not have hit the wire first in their Semifinal battles, but trainer Tony O’Sullivan thinks the freshman pacers will still be among the favourites in Saturday night’s Grassroots Championships at Grand River Raceway.

“With a little bit of luck I feel we’re as competent as anybody,” says O’Sullivan.

Cams Macharena will show off her skills from Post 2 in the first Grassroots Championship of the evening, and O’Sullivan is looking forward to seeing what the filly can do from an inside post. In seven lifetime starts this will be just her third visit to the inner half of the starting gate.

“She’s been hampered by outside draws in three out of her last four starts and still managed to finish in the top few,” points out the trainer.

In last week’s Semifinal, Cams Macharena and driver Doug McNair started from the outside Post 8, sat last through the first half of the mile and then swung out three-wide and powered down the stretch to finish second by half a length to 1:56.2 winner Pan Luis Obispo. McNair will be back in the filly’s race bike for Saturday’s $100,000 test.

O’Sullivan trains the daughter of Mach Three and $388,654 winner Cams Valentine for owner-breeders Chris Arold and Michael Drury of Strongsville, Ohio and Kenneth Kohut of Independence, Ohio. Through seven starts the filly has posted three wins, one second and one third for earnings of $37,580 and her connections are hoping she can add to that on Saturday.

“She seems to be fresh and she seems to be going in the right direction,” notes O’Sullivan. “She really hasn’t raced bad yet.

“The best thing about her is she’s very willing,” adds the Cambridge, Ont. resident. “She just has a great attitude and she can race any way you want.”

Stablemate Sly Ruler demonstrated his versatility in last week’s Semifinal, spending most of the mile parked in the outer flow before circling out three-wide to get around stalled cover and battle pacesetter Panongahela through the last quarter. Sly Ruler settled for second in the 1:54.4 mile, but O’Sullivan was impressed with the colt’s game effort.

“I was pretty impressed with the way he raced last time. He did a lot of work in the last quarter,” says the trainer. “He hasn’t raced bad for us at all. He’s been a pleasant surprise.”

The Jeremes Jet son arrived in O’Sullivan’s barn in mid-July after being purchased by Frank Bellino of Bronxville, New York. Through nine freshman starts the colt has posted two wins, four seconds and one third for earnings of $54,550. Guelph, Ont. resident McNair will also steer Sly Ruler from Post 6 in the pacing colt championship, and O’Sullivan is hopeful that the reinsman can carve out a productive trip for the youngster.

“He probably appreciates a helmet at some point, but he can go either way,” says O’Sullivan. “He doesn’t do anything wrong, he’s very versatile.”

Trainer Jeff Gillis says consistency has been the hallmark of trotting gelding Touchdown Toss’s sophomore season. The Striking Sahbra gelding has four wins, seven seconds, three thirds, four fourths and one fifth to his credit through 19 starts for earnings of $97,240.

“I’d classify him as a useful horse. He’s not a stand out, but he seems to be real consistent,” says Gillis. “He generally gets you a cheque.”

The Hillsburgh, Ont. resident shares ownership of Touchdown Toss with Ken Henwood of Mississauga, Ont., Mac Nichol of Burlington, Ont., and Gerald Stay of Buffalo, New York. The group purchased Touchdown Toss for $40,000 out of the 2010 Canadian Yearling Sale and after three freshman starts they opted to suspend the long-legged trotter’s season and give him another year to grow and mature.

The benefits of that decision were clearly demonstrated in last week’s Semifinal when Touchdown Toss and driver James MacDonald cruised to a three and three-quarter length victory after controlling most of the fractions.

“He hasn’t been on the front a whole lot in his life, but he had a good post and James saw fit to put him there,” notes Gillis. “We were happy with him.”

Guelph, Ont. resident MacDonald engineered the Semifinal victory from Post 2, and will line the gelding up behind Post 5 in Saturday’s $100,000 Championship.

Gillis is not expecting another front end effort from the pair, but has confidence that MacDonald will be able to work out a trip for the versatile trotter.

Touchdown Toss and his three-year-old trotting colt peers will battle in the ninth race on Grand River Raceway’s Saturday, Sept. 29 program, which gets under way at 7:05 pm. The top two and three-year-old Grassroots competitors will be featured in Races 2 through 5 and 7 through 10.

To view Saturday's harness racing entries, click on the following link: Saturday Entries - Grand River Raceway.

(OSS)