Rockwood resident Rob Fellows loaded two sophomore trotting colt Grassroots trophies into his trailer at the conclusion of Grand River Raceway's Monday evening (Jully 2) harness racing program.
The trainer partnered with driver Billy Davis Jr. for the first victory, which saw Hero Of My Dreams stalk pacesetter Hallucination before shaking loose in the lane to score a major upset.
Sent off as the fans' last choice from Post 7, Davis Jr. and Hero Of My Dreams finished one length ahead of heavy favourite Touchdown Toss and three and a half lengths ahead of Hallucination, halting the teletimer at 1:59.1.
Monday's victory was just the Angus Hall son's second lifetime, coming in his eighth lifetime start. The colt's only other victory was also recorded at Grand River, in a freshman trotting colt Grassroots event last August.
Fellows shares ownership of Hero Of My Dreams with Willard Sabrosky of Madison Heights, MI. The trainer purchased the full-brother to $1 million winner Laddie at the 2010 Harrisburg Yearling Sale for $62,000 US.
Driver Scott Coulter engineered the second win for Fellows, guiding The Bronx Bumper through a second-over trip before sprinting down the stretch to a half length victory in 1:59.4.
Pacesetter Windsong Ingenious settled for second, with fan favourite Southwind Cornell sharing third-place spoils withNorthern Kingdomwhen racing officials could not separate the trotters in the photo finish and declared a dead heat.
John Wagner of Centerville, M Downs The Bronx Bumper, who boasts a record of four wins and one second in eight starts this season but had been unsuccessful in Grassroots action prior to Monday's outing.
The Ken Warkentin son boosted his lifetime earnings to $25,275 with the win.
In addition to their successful efforts for Fellows, both Davis Jr. and Coulter captured a second Grassroots division. Coulter posted his first win in the fifth $24,000 division with Chief Zuma, one of just three favourites to come through for fans in the nine Grassroots contests.
Starting from Post 1, Chief Zuma led the field through fractions of :29, :59.2 and 1:30.2 then dug in through the stretch to score a half length victory in 2:00.3. Mutinyonthebounty finished a hard closing second, while Musical Prince was well back in third.
Chance Stewart conditions Chief Zuma for Audrey Dumont of Brinston,ON and Yves Sarrazin of La Presentation, QC. The Striking Sahbra gelding now has two wins and one third to his credit through five lifetime starts.
DavisJr. scored his second win with Somebody AS in the tenth race. The pair controlled the tempo from start to finish, cruising home three lengths on top in 1:58.1, the quickest mile of the nine Grassroots divisions. The Northern Dude and Gus Is All Lane rounded out the top three.
Anette Lorentzon trains Somebody AS for her family's ACL Stuteri AB of Paris,KY. Monday's test was the Striking Sahbra son's first in the Ontario Sires Stakes program and boosts his lifetime record to three wins, one second and one third in five starts.
In addition to Hero Of My Dreams, two other colts with local connections hit the Grassroots jackpot atGrand Riveron Monday. Deck The Halls scored a gate-to-wire victory over Northern Escort and Cut Him Loose in the third race, halting the teletimer at 2:00.4.
Sylvain Lacaille trains and drives Deck The Halls for Reve Avec Moi/Dream With Me of Grand Valley, and has tallied two straight wins with the Angus Hall colt.
In the seventh race Call Me Hanover hung on for a neck victory over Magical Victory and favourite Ill Be There, recording a personal best 1:59.4. The recent winner of the Grey Huron Series at Clinton Raceway, Call Me Hanover is owned by trainer Tommy Andersson of Grand Valley,ON and Courant AB of Halmstad, Sweden. Maria Flink piloted the Kadabra colt to his fourth straight victory.
The other Grassroots trophies went home with Duke Of Vegas (1:59.4); Our Mojo (2:01.2); and Cool Creek Magic (2:01.1).
Ontario's talented three-year-old trotting colts make their fourth Grassroots start at Kawartha Downs on Aug. 11. Ontario Sires Stakes excitement continues to build at Grand River Raceway when the Elora oval hosts the lightning fast three-year-old pacing colts in their third Grassroots event on Monday, July 23.