The Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) will continue its 50th Anniversary celebration tour on Canada Day (July 1) with a pair of OSS Grassroots Series races and a Prospect Series race at Dresden Raceway.
A total of $48,000 will be on the line between the three races with the Grassroots events going in Races 4 and 6 and the Prospect Series race kicking off the 12-race afternoon with Race 1.
With 7-2 morning odds, Livingitlarge is a horse to watch in the $8,000 Prospect Series race for three-year-old trotting colts. The son of Wheeling N Dealin is owned, trained and will be driven by Dresden Raceway regular Lorne House.
“We’ve been taking our time with him this year coming back as a three-year-old,” said House of Livingitlarge. “We started him off in Sarnia [Hiawatha Horse Park] because last year he had a little bit of trouble with the turns on the tighter tracks but I think we have that solved, so we’re gonna take a shot at Dresden this week and see how that goes.
“He’s come along quite nicely and has made some real progress in the last few weeks, so we’re hoping for a good showing.”
In four starts this year, Livingitlarge has picked up two second-place finishes in addition to his first career win on June 8 at Hiawatha Horse Park. Chantal Ruijs of Georgian Bluffs, Ont. bred Livingitlarge and co-owns him with House.
“We basically raised him, [Ruijs] and I, and he’s come along really nice,” House said.
Included in Race 1’s six-horse field is Prospect Series leader Slayin Theday Away, who has already won two Prospect Series events and is entering Monday with 8-5 morning odds.
The Grassroots series races Monday will each feature $20,000 purses for three-year-old trotting colts.
Race 4’s five-horse field will feature House driving Muscle Mass colt Georgeofthejungle for the first time.
“Most trainers can give you good insight and the world that we live in today, with replays and whatnot, I can get a feel a know what to expect of a horse,” said House. “You rely a lot on the trainer’s insight on a horse you’ve never driven with stuff like how they are on the gate and stuff like that.
“It can be a different experience, but if you do your homework you can prepare yourself well.”
Unraced as a two-year-old, Georgeofthejungle is trained by Dominic Gladu, owned by Thestable Georgofthejungl of Guelph, Ont. and was bred by Shmuel Farhi of London, Ont.
The heavy favourite in Race 4 is the Victor Puddy-trained The Canam Banker, who is coming into the race with 8-5 morning line odds. Tyler Borth is listed to drive that son of The Bank.
Borth will also drive Jack N Abs in Race 6’s five-horse Grassroots event. The Gregg McNair-trained Muscle Mass colt is even money on the morning line.
As part of the 50th Anniversary celebration, fans coming down to enjoy the races will also be able to win prizes via giveaways, there will be activity books for the young ones and take in a timeline illustrating the 50-year history of the OSS.
For House, participating in the OSS early in his career helped him develop a lifelong passion for the sport.
“The first decent Sires Stakes horse that I ever trained, drove and owned was a horse named Grogan,” said House reminiscing about his experience with the OSS. “He would’ve been at the start of my career driving and training and it was kind of nice to have a horse like him. He won several Grassroots around the small tracks as a three-year-old and it was a lot of fun and it got me hooked on driving and training young trotters.”
In advance of Monday’s celebration, noted Canadian harness racing writer and historian Robert Smith wrote a brief history of Dresden Raceway that you can read here.
Post time for the first race Monday at Dresden goes at 1:00 p.m. For entries, click the following link: Monday Entries - Dresden Raceway.
(with files from Ontario Racing)