(Photo of driver Jody Jamieson and Southwind General courtesy of Iron Horse Photo)
Southwind General made his career debut in the third of three $18,000 Grassroots divisions at Grand River Raceway on Wednesday evening and may make his second start against North America’s best two-year-old pacing colts.
“To be honest, right now I’m thinking about the Metro (Pace), so he’s going from a Grassroots to maybe the Metro,” said owner-trainer Jack Darling. “If he comes out of it okay, and everything looks good, I’ll give him a whirl in the Metro.”
Not every novice can proceed directly from the Grassroots to the Grand Circuit, but Southwind General impressed Darling from the start. The Cambridge resident offered up $110,000 for the son of Sportswriter and Gamblers Passion at last fall’s Lexington Selected Yearling Sale and felt the colt was among his best all winter.
“Early, he was our best one training down, and then kind of towards the end he was just okay. He’s a very big colt and he kind of went through a bit of a growth stage where he got kind of flopping around, but just recently he’s really come into his own again,” noted Darling. “So I was hoping for a mile like he went tonight, but you never know until you see them do it.”
Southwind General and driver Jody Jamieson delivered a commanding performance from Post 3 in the third Grassroots division. Taking control of the pace going by the :27.3 quarter, the fan favourites proceeded through a :57 half and 1:27.1 three-quarters, and then sprinted away from the field to an eight length victory in 1:55.1. Stonebridge Pocket finished second and One Source was third.
Wednesday’s Grassroots outing was not originally on Southwind General’s schedule, but a bout with sickness delayed his debut and caused Darling to go looking for an alternative to the August 11 Gold Series event at Mohawk Racetrack.
“Things just really didn’t work out for his schedule. Everything was going fine and then he got sick there (mid-July) and we had to qualify him again (Aug. 9), and then I couldn’t get him a race at Mohawk, so I put him in here,” Darling explained. “Luckily he got around the track good and he was pretty impressive. I really liked the looks of him at the wire.”
Southwind General’s performance capped off a solid night of Grassroots competition for Darling and Moffat, ON resident Jamieson as the trainer-driver duo also finished in the runner-up spot in the other two divisions. Master The View finished second to Down On My Luck in the first split and Trident Seelster was second to Silverinyourpocket in the other tilt.
Down On My Luck kicked things off with a gate-to-wire effort from Post 1, rolling through fractions of :29.2, 1:00.4 and 1:30.2 on his way to a 1:58.4 victory. Master The View and Jamieson sat in the pocket and hit the wire one and one-half lengths back in second, with Tigers Way on their heels in third.
“He’s a nice gaited colt. Very, very lazy, a four-year-old kid could jog him, but when a horse comes to him he keeps going,” said driver Doug McNair of Guelph, ON. “He’s a tough horse not to like.”
McNair piloted the Camluck son to his second straight Grassroots win for trainer Ron Adams of LaSalle and owners 1362313 Ontario Ltd. of Windsor and David Kryway of Amherstburg, ON. The full brother to $284,615 winner Coach Cal was a $10,000 purchase from the Harrisburg Yearling Sale.
Silverinyourpocket and driver Sylvain Filion also used front-end tactics to secure their victory from Post 7. The pair powered through fractions of :29, :59.2 and 1:29.2 on their way to a 1:57.2 victory, two and three-quarter lengths ahead of the pocket-sitting Jamieson and Trident Seelster and well ahead of third-place finisher Monty Mono.
Milton resident Filion drives Silverinyourpocket for trainer Richard Moreau of Puslinch, ON and owners David and Marguerite Ratchford of North Sydney, NS. In four Grassroots outings the son of Badlands Hanover has posted three wins and one third, putting him at the top of the two-year-old pacing colt division standings with 162 points. A $19,000 purchase from the Forest City Yearling Sale, Silverinyourpocket will make his next start at Mohawk Racetrack in the fifth Grassroots event on August 29.
“Our goal is to keep him together and healthy for this year,” said Moreau. “I want to make sure he stays brave, and the hope is to have an even better horse next year.”
The two-year-old pacing colts have two regular season events remaining on their schedule, with the top 20 point earners from the six regular season events advancing to the Sept. 15 Semi-final at Mohawk Racetrack. The top five finishers from each Semi-final will compete in the $50,000 Grassroots Championship at Mohawk on Sept. 24.
Ontario Sires Stakes excitement returns to Grand River Raceway on Wednesday, Sept. 7 with the last regular season Grassroots event for the three-year-old trotting colts and geldings.
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