He's back! Three-time Horse of the Year Country Boy 123, fresh off a romp at Indiana Grand racetrack in the $59,600 Bradford Stakes, popped up in the entries on Wednesday, August 12, the 10th day of the 2020 Ajax Downs season. The 7-year-old, a 23-time winner in 37 races with over $464,000 in earnings is beginning his preparations for the Oct. 12 Alex Picov Memorial Championship, a race he has won the last three years.
Owned and trained by Ruth Barbour of Hillsburgh, Country Boy 123 is entered in a 110-yard allowance race Wednesday, race 7, for horses who have never won at the 'Gridiron Gallop' distance. As the race is about three times shorter than his best distance, it is a starting point for one of Canada's greatest Quarter Horses to log one of the three required starts locally to be eligible for the Championship.
Country Boy 123 will start from post 3 in a field of 10 with leading rider Ed Walton aboard.
Wednesday's featured 5th race is the $16,000 Quarter Racing Owners of Ontario's Overnight series for some of the exciting up-and-coming 2-year-old stars including ME ZOOMN BY, an aptly named colt owned by Rick Crispi of Guelph, ON.
Me Zoom By, a charcoal coloured Alberta-bred sprinted away to a three-quarter length win in his career debut July 22 with an 81 speed index, a high rating for a young horse. Trained by Tom Dunlap, Me Zoomn By showed some quick workouts in Oklahoma and Indiana before he headed back to Canada to begin his career. His rider Cory Spataro was impressed with the colt in that first race.
"I used to ride his full brother here, Eyes Zoomn, and he was a nice horse," said Spataro about that 14-time winner. "This colt was well schooled and prepared for his first race."
The fillies STREAKINLILWAGON, owned by Jason Pascoe's GFR Racing in Pontypool and Picov Cattle Company and Marie Broadstock's ICE CREAM CARTEL also come off nice wins. Streakinlilwagon is a half sister to Ajax Downs' 2014 Horse of the Year Streakinshagginwagon while Ice Cream Cartel romped in her July 29 debut for her longtime Ajax Downs connections.
The QROOI Overnight Series dash has a field of eight on a packed 10-race card that has a first race post time of 12:55 p.m.
While fans are not yet permitted at Ajax Downs, there is livestreaming and wagering available at Horseplayer Interactive (
www.hpibet.com), live streaming at
www.ajaxdowns.com. For latest news and photos, results and more, follow Ajax Downs on Twitter and Instagram (@AjaxDowns). The QROOI can help you enter the exciting world of Quarter Horse ownership, contact them at
www.qrooi.com.
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