Peterborough resident John Bax will ship a trio of trotters the short distance to Kawartha Downs on Saturday evening to compete in the third Grassroots event on the sophomore trotting colt schedule.
Duke Of Vegas, Summer Indian and Northern Triumph will battle for a share of $24,000 in the fifth, sixth and seventh Grassroots divisions, respectively.
Summer Indian makes his first start in the Grassroots program from Post 4 in the sixth race, and the Majestic Son colt has been awarded early favourite status after dominating the competition in the Dream Of Glory Trot Final at Hanover Raceway on August 4.
“It’s great when they can handle the half-mile,” says Bax of the gelding’s Dream Of Glory effort. “I call him a ‘tweener horse; he’s just a filler in the Golds, but maybe a little better than a Grassrooter, and he can handle turns.”
Summer Indian posted a commanding six and three-quarter length victory in his Dream Of Glory Elimination on July 28, hitting the wire in 1:57.1, and returned to Hanover the next week to deliver a three length win in 1:57.4. In addition to his Dream of Glory successes, Summer Indian has two other wins and one third to his credit through 12 starts and has banked $75,600 this season for owners Bax, John Hayes of Sharon, John Houston of Cobourg and Goin To The Show Stable of Peterborough.
The Majestic Son gelding started his sophomore Ontario Sires Stakes season at the Gold Series level, but after the trotter failed to make two straight Gold Finals, Bax decided to move Summer Indian down to the Grassroots level.
“I’m hopeful he’s confident, I hope he’s good,” says the horseman, who will hand the lines over to regular reinsman Stephen Byron on Saturday.
While Summer Indian was labouring in the Gold Series, Duke Of Vegas and Northern Triumph were attempting to carve out their own niche on the Grassroots circuit.
Duke Of Vegas makes his third Grassroots start from Post 7 in the fifth race and will be looking for his third top three result. In the May 21 Grassroots season opener at Mohawk Racetrack Duke Of Vegas traveled up the outside into third, and then at Grand River Raceway on July 2 the gelding controlled the pace from start to finish, scoring a 1:59.4 victory.
In the two starts after his Grassroots victory Duke Of Vegas made a pair of uncharacteristic breaks, but the Duke Of York son heads into Saturday’s test off a sharp 1:56.4 qualifier at Kawartha on July 28 and Bax is hoping the youngster is back on track.
“He’s more of a grinder. He’s a big, strong horse and I think he’ll get better as the year goes on,” says the trainer. “I’ve been pretty satisfied with how he’s come along.”
Bax conditions Duke Of Vegas for owner-breeder Keith Gibson of Lower Hutt, NZ and has sent the gelding out nine times this season for a return of two wins, two seconds and one third for $23,630 in earnings.
Like Duke Of Vegas, Northern Triumph has two Grassroots starts under his belt this season, but the Striking Sahbra son has yet to crack the top three.
In the season opener at Mohawk Northern Triumph made an early miscue and finished eighth, then logged a fourth-place result at Grand River Raceway on July 2.
“He’s just kind of a middle of the road horse. We’re still trying to teach him how to race,” notes Bax, who owns the gelding through his Parkhill Stud Farm. “We’ve been fiddling around with his equipment. He’s got to get a little more aggressive.”
Northern Triumph will start from Post 3 in Saturday’s seventh race and heads into the test off a fifth-place result in a July 28 overnight event at Kawartha. Through 14 starts this season the gelding has amassed two wins, two seconds and one third for earnings of $21,523.
Stephen Byron will steer both Duke Of Vegas and Northern Triumph in Saturday’s Grassroots test.
The three-year-old trotting colts will be featured in Races 1 through 7 on Kawartha Downs’ Saturday, August 11 program, which gets under way at 7 p.m.
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To view entries for Saturday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Saturday Entries – Kawartha Downs.