Tymal Lennon has spent the last two months matching wits with the Gold Series colts without gaining a solid foothold, so the two-year-old trotting gelding will return to the Grassroots program
when it stops at Georgian Downs on Tuesday in hopes of regaining the form that saw him in the winner’s circle at the season opener.
“These animals, some days they step up and other days they just stall,” says Tymal Lennon’s co-owner Gordon Mason. “He has been, in his last few starts, he has been stalling.”
The Orangeville, ON resident shares ownership of Tymal Lennon with Groundswell Stable of Sharon, ON and trainer John Bax’s Parkhill Stud Farm of Peterborough, ON. The group acquired the son of Striking Sahbra and Yoko Hanover for $20,000 at last fall’s Forest City Yearling Sale and sent him out for his first Ontario Sires Stakes test in the Grassroots season opener at Hiawatha Horse Park on July 15.
Tymal Lennon was an effortless winner in his debut, reaching the wire six lengths ahead of the field and stopping the clock at 2:02.4 over a Hiawatha track rated two seconds slower than normal. Off that impressive performance his connections decided to tackle the top tier colts in the second Gold Series event, and Tymal Lennon delivered a steady third-place effort in his July 28 Gold Elimination at Grand River Raceway, but in the Aug. 4 Gold Final he finished eighth from Post 7.
At Rideau Carleton Raceway on Aug. 20 Thornton, ON resident Stephen Byron piloted Tymal Lennon to another third-place Gold Elimination result, and delivered a fourth-place effort in the Gold Final one week later. The gelding’s sixth lifetime start came in the Sept. 3 Champlain Stakes at Mohawk Racetrack, and after a promising start he faded badly to finish sixth. A runner-up finish at Kawartha Downs in a Sept. 18 overnight event, clocked in 2:00.1, cemented Bax’s intention to return Tymal Lennon to the Grassroots level.
“We’ve been very pleased with his performances so far this year,” says Mason of the gelding, who has earned $33,725 in his first seven outings. “You’ve got to be a bit lucky to get one to the races, never mind making any money.”
Byron will steer Tymal Lennon from Post 2 in the fifth $24,000 Grassroots division on Tuesday, and Mason is hoping the inside post and the local driver will help Tymal Lennon bounce back to his winning form.
“The post makes the difference, and Steve Byron is in his hometown, so we’ll just see what happens,” says the owner. “There are a lot of good horses in there.”
Including Tymal Lennon, there are five former Grassroots trophy winners in the eighth race on Tuesday, as well as Balanced Image Stake winner Traverse Seelster.
Mason also owns a share in Talbot Zack Attack, who has spent the whole season battling in the Grassroots program. Through four Grassroots starts the son of Striking Sahbra and $152,797 winner Flirting Lavec has posted one second, one fourth and one fifth and currently sits twenty-first in the division point standings.
“He was not a very expensive horse and he just plugs along and picks up pieces here and there,” says Mason, who shares ownership of the gelding with Parkhill Stud Farm, Harry Locke of Oshawa, ON and William White of Peterborough, ON. “I don’t think he’s going to set the world on fire.”
Talbot Zack Attack was a $14,000 acquisition at the Forest City Sale and has repaid $12,870 of that through his first six starts. Byron will steer the youngster from Post 5 in Tuesday’s fifth race.
Bax and Byron will team up a total of five times on Tuesday, battling for Grassroots glory in all but one of the $24,000 divisions. The two-year-old trotting colts are featured in Race 3 and Races 5 through 9, with the Georgian Downs starter sending the first race off at 7:25 p.m.
(O.S.S.)
To view Tuesday’s entries, click here.