Trotting colts kick off rich OSS season in London

LONDON, MAY 4, 2002 - When the province's top three-year-old trotting colts leap into Gold Series action at Western Fair Raceway on Friday night they will kick off the richest Ontario Sires Stakes season in the program's 29 year history. This year the best two and three-year-old Standardbreds bred in Ontario will compete for $20 million in purse money, an increase of $2.5
million over 2001.

Friday's event will reunite the exciting young trotters who lowered track records across the province last season as two-year-olds, and from whose ranks came Breeders Crown champion Duke Of York. While Duke Of York will skip the OSS season opener with an eye to lucrative stakes opportunities later this spring, runner-up Carrland Buddy is qualified and ready to roll for trainer George Zirnis and the Smart Cat Stable of Elmira.

The Flak Bait son has a pair of qualifiers and two races under his belt, with a 2:01 victory in his most recent outing at Sarnia's Hiawatha Horse Park on April 27. Carrland Buddy earned $225,234 in the Gold ranks as a two-year-old and his connections will be looking for a solid start to the sophomore season from the bay colt.

Zirnis trainee Total Mayhem was also a winner at Hiawatha Horse Park on April 27, stopping the teletimer at 2:02.1. Total Mayhem banked $47,604 in Carrland Buddy's shadow last season for Zirnis and his partners Thomas Cousineau of Elmira and NFWR Stables of Brampton.

Also looking sharp in early season qualifying action were a pair of colts trained by Wheatley's Doug McIntosh. Last year's Grass Roots champion Semper Fi Hall logged a 201.2 victory in an April 23 qualifier at Mohawk Racetrack, while Ryan Hall stopped the clock at 2:00.3. McIntosh trains the Balanced Image sons for breeders Walnut Hall Limited of Lexington, KY.

South of the border, Whitesand Titan posted a 2:01.4 victory in a qualifying race at New York's Vernon Downs. Another son of Balanced Image, Whitesand Titan earned $173,441 for owner Jan Erik Kyrkjeboe of Stanstead, QC last season.

The fastest early season result was posted by Abbey Road C at Georgian Downs on April 27 where the Keith Jones trainee captured a qualifier in a sharp 1:58.4, finishing 35 lengths ahead of the competition. George Charlton of Utopia owns Abbey Road C, a winner of $56,767 in Ontario Sires Stakes action at two.

The top eight finishers from Friday night's Gold Series Elimination will return to London on May 18 to compete in their first $130,000 Gold Final, $30,000 more than they vied for in their freshman season Gold Finals.

Two weeks after the sophomore trotting colts light up the Western Fair half-mile the Ontario Sires Stakes will make a third stop in London, on Friday, May 31, for a Trillium Series event for the three-year-old trotting fillies. Following its summer hiatus, Western Fair Raceway will also be a regular stop on the Ontario Sires Stakes fall circuit, hosting a total of five events in October and November.