Both Lyle MacArthur and David Menary will harness two starters in Saturday evening’s $800,000 Grassroots Championships at Western Fair Raceway
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MacArthur sends out a pair of freshman trotters for Dorchester, Ont. resident Anne Shunock and her partners, and the veteran trainer-driver has confidence in both filly Some Like It Hot and colt Bob From Brussels.
“The trotting filly was a little bit of a handful at the start. Her and I were kind of getting in a head bashing contest. I was putting equipment on to try and control her and she was fighting it,” recalled MacArthur. “I finally took it all off her and said, 'Do what you like,' and since I did that she’s been better.”
Some Like It Hot delivered a strong effort from Post 7 last Friday to advance out of the Semifinal round, and will make her bid for a division championship from Post 2 in the first $100,000 Grassroots Final. MacArthur expects the improved post to be of significant advantage to the Ken Warkentin daughter.
“She has a good post too, it will probably help her a bit because she does have some gate speed if I want to use it,” said the horseman, who conditions the filly for Shunock, Linda Wellwood of St. George Brant, Ont., Tammy Aspden of Caistor Centre, Ont. and Diane Ingham of Mount Pleasant, Ont. “For a big, big filly, she gets around London pretty good.”
Some Like It Hot, who has three wins and one second in her last four starts, will be battling a talented freshman trotting filly field in the second race of the evening. Semifinal winners Edens Cover Girl, owned by Danterra Racing Stable of Strathroy, Ont., Chasin The Dream Stable of Oil Springs, Ont. and Edenridge Farms of Charlottesville, Virgina, and Magic Wheel will start from Posts 6 and 8 respectively.
Bob From Brussels was not as fortunate as his stablemate in the post position draw, and will battle from the outside Post 7 in the freshman trotting colt final on Saturday. However, MacArthur says the Here Comes Herbie son has proven that he can win off a variety of trips and has a seemingly inexhaustible supply of energy.
“He can leave and get spotted, sit outside or come from behind. I just have to rap him out a half decent trip, that’s all,” said the St. George Brant resident. “He’s a real nice colt that’s come a long way.”
When Bob From Brussels first arrived in MacArthur’s barn last fall, the horseman took one look at the dainty yearling and figured he would be heading back to the Shunock’s farm before snow fell. The colt quickly proved MacArthur wrong, picking up his early lessons with ease and improving with almost every outing.
“I thought I’d only have him for a couple months and then I’d be sending him home to grow, but he did everything right from Day 1,” recalled the trainer. “And he started filling out and turned into being a decent sized colt. He’s a nice little horse.”
With four wins and three seconds in nine starts, Bob From Brussels has far exceeded the expectations MacArthur and Shunock had for the youngster one year ago. He finished up the season atop the two-year-old trotting colt division point standings and will be looking to best Semifinal winners Assignment (Post 5) and Chuckalo Caden (Post 6) in Saturday’s fourth race.
Both of David Menary’s starters are seasoned three-year-old campaigners and the Cheltenham, Ont. resident is expecting strong results from both pacing filly Putnam Mackenzie and pacing gelding Good Bad Lucky.
Putnam Mackenzie and driver Randy Waples will start from Post 4 in the fifth race and Menary expects the filly to be even better than she was in her third-place effort last Saturday. Unsatisfied with the way the Grinfromeartoear lass navigated the London oval in the Semifinal, Menary spent this week tweaking a few things.
“We came home and ironed her out. I think she’s pretty good headed into Saturday,” said Menary, who conditions the filly for owner-breeders Putnam Training Centre Ltd. of Mossley, Ont. and Jamie Bardoel of London, Ont.
“They are really good owners,” added the trainer. “They were happy racing her in the Grassroots so the mare has had a lot of confidence every week.”
On Sept. 27 Putnam Mackenzie tested the Gold Series waters and came up with a third-place effort, so Menary and the Bardoel’s opted to skip the last regular season Grassroots event and if she races well in London on Saturday evening, they will give her one last tilt at the top fillies in the Oct. 28 Gold elimination at Woodbine Racetrack.
Menary’s other shot at his third straight Grassroots Championship comes in the last race of the evening, where Good Bad Lucky will square off against the top three-year-old pacing colts from Post 2.
“Good Bad Lucky’s got a better post this week, and he’s a different kind of horse on the front end,” noted Menary. “He has the two-hole so Jody [Jamieson] will have lots of options.”
Burke Racing Stable LLC of Fredericktown, Pennsylvania and Weaver Bruscemi LLC of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania purchased the Camluck son out of Bob McIntosh’s consignment at the Summer Sizzler Mixed Sale in August for $23,000. Since then the gelding has recorded two wins, three seconds and one sixth and banked $33,500.
Western Fair Raceway’s rich Saturday night program gets under way at 7:05 p.m., with the 64 Grassroots Finalists showing off their skills in Races 2 through 5 and 7 through 10.
To view Saturday's entries, click here.
(OSS)