A hotbed of activity for two-year-old Ontario Sires Stakes action, Flamboro Downs hosts its third freshman division in less than a week when the novice trotting colts roll into town on Wednesday for their Grassroots debut.
Maytorious will jump straight into provincial competition from a June 30 qualifier, but trainer David Furness is hoping the gelding's post and half-mile track experience will stand him in good stead in the first $20,000 Grassroots battle.
"The post is very good, especially on a half-mile track," says Furness of the trotter's advantageous Post 1 draw. "He trains on a half-mile so I hope he's going to be pretty good on a half-mile. Flamboro is an excellent half-mile track, it has good turns."
The son of Angus Hall and Malaver toured Mohawk Racetrack in 2:04 in his qualifying effort, finishing third behind a pair of two-year-old fillies that will appear in Sunday's Gold event at the Dundas oval. Furness was not overwhelmed by the effort, but he hopes Maytorious will be competitive in the Grassroots this summer.
"There are a lot of good colts out there right now. I don't know exactly what's in this race, or if he'll be competitive, but we'll find out Wednesday," says the horseman, who conditions Maytorious for his brother Dr. Donald Furness's Cambrook Stable of Campbellville. "He's not a speed horse, I just hope he can be competitive in that field."
So far the homebred trotter has been pleasant surprise for Furness, who was concerned that the aggression Maytorious displayed toward other horses as a yearling might be the defining factor in the horse's personality.
"He was a fighter and a bully in the paddock. He was really going after the other colts," recalls Furness. "At the time he was so mean, the person looking after him said, 'You better geld him early or he's going to be trouble.'
"So we gelded him very early, before we even broke him, and actually he's a nice horse to be around, he's not rough and tough at all."
Keith Oliver piloted the gelding in his June 30 qualifier and will be back in the race bike on Wednesday. Furness says the youngster handled the hub-bub of qualifying without batting an eye and hopes Maytorious can maintain his even keel on race night.
"The first time he qualified he was good behind the gate, he behaved himself well," notes the Guelph resident. "For his first start that's all we're hoping, that he just stays trotting and behaves himself, and hopefully he gets a nice cheque, that would be great too."
Among the colts that Maytorious will face in the first Grassroots division on Wednesday is Magic Spice, a $137,000 yearling purchase who captured his June 21 qualifier in 2:03.2. Carl Jamieson trains the son of Kadabra and Spicey Image for Canamerica Capital Corp. of Milton, Kenjo Stable of Cambridge, Natan Schlachet of Sundbyberg, Sweden and Kjell Magne Andersen of Oslo, Norway, and Jody Jamieson will steer the colt from Post 5 in the fifth race Wednesday.
The other two $20,000 Grassroots divisions will go postward in Races 6 and 8, with Flamboro Downs sending its first race behind the gate at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
To view Wednesday's entries, click here.
(OSS)