Hot Country rewrote the hours-old record for a rookie trotting gelding and became the fastest two-year-old trotter ever at Hiawatha Horse Park in the second $25,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots Leg 4A division at Hiawatha Horse Park on Saturday, Aug. 30.
Jason Ryan requested early speed from him from post six and settled him into third behind pocket-sitter Toss Of The Dice (Damian MacLellan) and leader Wolverine Legend (Daryl Thiessen). After fractions of :28.1 and :58.1, Hot Country launched out of third and reached the leader’s wheel by three-quarters in 1:28. Hot Country grinded down his opponent as they rounded the last turn, kicking clear of him in mid-stretch. With Toss Of The Dice in pursuit, Hot Country finished strongly to win by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:58.1. Toss Of The Dice came home second over Wolverine Legend.
Hot Country has won two straight Grassroots legs and has a record of two wins from five starts with $33,780 in earnings. The son of Muscle Mass-Feel Invincible As is trained by Nick Gallucci for Millar Farms of Stouffville, Ont. He paid $5.10 to win.
He one-upped first-division winner Green Nineteen ($44.10), who crushed the previous record for freshman male trotters of 2:00, set by Lukas Rossi in 2008, with a 1:58.2 mile. After making the lead early, Green Nineteen was shuffled to third and remained there until the stretch, when he shot up the pylons to win by a head over favourite Raucous (Anthony Haughan) with trainer Matt Bax at the lines. Beau Knight (Thiessen) finished third. Green Nineteen, a son of Green Manalishi S-Marion Mayflower, won for the first time in six attempts for owners Bax Stable, Harbor Racing Stable LLC, Brilo Farms, and Peter Porter.
Stmikes Kerryblues stayed hot with his fifth straight win as the Green Manalishi S-Wilsonator gelding made it seven-for-seven in Prospect Series competition this year. In the second $8,000 Leg 5A split for three-year-old trotting males, he provided the fractions of :28.1, :57.1, and 1:26.1 before powering away to win by 6-1/4 lengths in 1:56.4. Dagrassaintgreener (Thiessen), the only horse to stick with the leader past the midway point, finished second, with Muskie Man (Scott Wray) third. MacLellan piloted Stmikes Kerryblues, who is now eight-for-14 this year, for trainer Kyle Fellows and owners Yolanda Fellows, Ed Wilson, Steve McGill, and Patrick Dillon.
There were four $8,000 Prospect Series divisions on the card for sophomore trotters, with two for each sex. That Dude ($6.80) won the other colt-and-gelding contest in 1:58.4 with Jason Ryan in the bike for trainer Doug Bowins. The winners of the filly splits were Vowel For Vanna ($3.30) in 1:58.4 with Garrett Rooney driving for John Holding, and Marie H ($19) in 1:56.4 for MacLellan and trainer Kyle Bossence.
To view Saturday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Hiawatha Horse Park.
(Standardbred Canada)