Less than two years after he bought a share in his first racehorse, Acton, Ont. resident Leonard Christopher will be rearranging his Canada Day weekend plans to catch freshman pacing fillies Mach Star and Bluebird Creek in action on Sunday evening at Mohawk Racetrack.
“I’ve got to go to the cottage I haven’t been up there in a month. I heard my grass is looking like hay,” Christopher said with a laugh. “I might try to make it back, get my grass cut and make it home on Sunday.”
The fillies are competing in the Grassroots season opener, with Mach Star making her debut from Post 5 in the first $24,000 division and Bluebird Creek hoping to overcome Post 9 in the third. Both fillies will get the services of Milton, Ont. resident Steve Condren, who also piloted them in an early season qualifier and one overnight start.
“Glenview, Robert Schlegel, he recommended we put Condren down, he won’t hurt them for babies,” Christopher said. “It’s nice to see him back after what he went through.”
Recently returned to the race bike after a year-long battle with colon cancer, Condren piloted Mach Star to a runner-up finish in her June 15 qualifier at Mohawk and a third-place finish in a two-year-old filly contest on June 21. The daughter of Mach Three and Beach Jenny will be looking to maintain her streak of top three finishes on Sunday as she faces off against a field of eight.
Christopher, Schlegel’s Glenview Livestock Ltd. of Wallenstein, Ont., Steven Papillon of Rockwood, Ont. and Dan Manes of Erin, Ont. share ownership of Mach Star, who was a $30,000 yearling at last fall’s Lexington Select Yearling Sale. The filly, a half-sister to $604,238 winner Versado, is trained by Shaun McDonald.
“We had a guy named Murray Brethour looking at the horses for us, so he told us what to pick and what not to pick,” Christopher said. “Like I said I’m new at it, I’ve still got a lot to learn about it.”
Since buying a share of Life Signature in the fall of 2010, Christopher has been on a rapid learning curve. Thanks to Life Signature’s success — the pacer has banked $79,875 to date — Christopher and his wife now own shares of 10 young hopefuls.
“A good friend of mine, Bill Manes, we bought a horse between the two of us and we done half-decent, and then I went off from there,” explained the new owner. “I met the trainer that he had, and their owners there, Glenview. I got in with them and from there we never looked back yet.”
Christopher and Glenview share ownership of Bluebird Creek, who was also a $30,000 yearling from the Forest City Yearling Sale. The daughter of Santanna Blue Chip and $187,077 winner Jacks Creek finished fourth in her June 15 qualifier and eighth in her June 21 overnight test after suffering interference at the halfway marker. Andrew McCabe handles training duties on the half-sister to $283,357 winner Goose Creek.
The Christophers are hoping both fillies can find their niche in the Ontario Sires Stakes program this summer so that they can enjoy more of the travelling and visiting they experienced last season with Life Signature.
“It’s a lot of fun. We have a great time socializing, meeting different people,” Christopher noted. “Last year we went over to Ottawa, we went to Clinton, we went to Flamboro, Kawartha, when they were running.”
The two-year-old pacing fillies will make their Grassroots debuts in Races 2, 4, 6, 7, and 9 on Mohawk Racetrack’s Canada Day program, which will begin at 7:10 p.m.
To view the harness racing entries for Sunday at Mohawk, click the following link: Sunday Entries - Mohawk Racetrack.
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** Lenny and Mary **
** Lenny and Mary ** ....
Such a pleasure to take care of some of your horses, there aren't any nicer owners in this business!! Here's hoping you have all the luck with all of your horses!! Who cares about the 'grass' Lenny, it's all about the 'roots' now!!! Hope you make it to see the girls on Sunday...