Harness racing stars -- both equine and human -- will be on track Friday night at Western Fair Raceway when the London, Ont. track will kick off its 2010 fall meet with a
weekend of great racing.
Cards have been drawn for both Friday and Saturday night.
“This will be our 50th season of racing at Western Fair and we are looking forward to starting off strong with the OSS (Ontario Sires Stakes) Grassroots semi-finals and finals,” said general manager Ian Fleming. “We have a very good product to showcase and can’t wait to get started.”
Western Fair is the host for the 2010 OSS Grassroots Championship races this season. Those eight $100,000 finals will be presented on October 23, and this weekend’s cards will determine the starters with two eliminations for each of the divisions.
The two-year-olds will be showcased on the Friday program, which will get underway at 7:05 p.m. The top point earners in each of the two-year-old divisions will be in action in Lucky Taryn (pacing filly), Dabrina (trotting filly), Bob From Brussels (trotting colt) and Just Asign To Me (pacing colt).
Just Asign To Me will be heading into his semi final riding a five-race win streak, all in Grassroots races. Trained by Bruce Gilkinson for the Cat Sass Stable of Listowel, Ontario, the Geartogear gelding has seven wins in nine starts this year. He will start from Post 1 in Race 2.
Western Fair’s leading drivers and trainers will be back in action as well. Doug McNair, who was atop the drivers’ leader board when Western Fair’s spring meet ended, will be back in action this fall at the half-miler. He will attempt to become the youngest driver in the sport to reach 1,000 victories.
Other top drivers back in action at Western Fair will include Trevor Henry, Bruce Richardson and Mike Whelan, along with perennial fan favourites Dave Wall and Ross Battin.
Note that Western Fair will be racing four days a week to the end of October. Thursdays will be added in November with a 3:35 p.m. first-race post time.
In addition to the eight $100,000 OSS Grassroots finals next Saturday night, the eliminations for the Forest City Pace, the distaff companion event to the track’s signature race, the Molson Pace, will be presented. Breeders Crown champion Dreamfair Eternal, APs Money Maker (who recently set a new track record at Mohawk Racetrack) and Southwind Madonna (who captured last year’s inaugural event) are among the star-studded nominees.
The $125,000 (added) final of the Forest City Pace will go to post on Saturday, October 30, which will also see a special appearance by London native Jennifer Hedger, now a co-host of TSN’s Sportscentre. She’ll be on hand for an autograph session in the lobby from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
As always, program pages and live video coverage for Western Fair race cards are available at westernfair.com.
(Western Fair)