from the Ontario Sires Stakes
Elora, ON — Grand River Raceway hosted its first Ontario Sires Stakes event of the season on Wednesday evening (July 18) and local driver Bob McClure teamed up with trainer Keith Jones and owner Douglas McCarthy to sweep both of the 3-year-old trotting colt and gelding Gold divisions.
In the first $72,048 split McClure left strongly from post three with Henderson Seelster and settled the colt in second as Sicario sprinted out to a :28 quarter, :58.3 half and 1:28.1 three-quarters. In the stretch McClure sent Henderson Seelster around the tiring pacesetter and the colt powered home to a 1-1/4 length victory in 1:57.2. Heavy favorite Run Director was second and Barney Mac rounded out the top three.
“Both of Keith’s are really good on a half, he has them set up and good gaited, so half-miles are an advantage to those two for sure,” noted McClure. “Henderson can get a bit hot, so the pace didn’t slow down very much and when he got out, he really exploded out of the hole. I didn’t expect it, but he raced super. I was really happy with him.”
Henderson Seelster did not race in the Ontario Sires Stakes as a 2-year-old, but in three sophomore starts at the Gold Series level the son of Holiday Road has now tallied one seventh, one third and one win. Wednesday’s triumph boosted the trotter’s lifetime earnings to $78,902.

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Bob McClure drove 3-year-old trotting gelding Joey Bats to a 1:58 Gold Series victory at Grand River Raceway on Wednesday.
The second $72,656 Gold division saw McClure fire Joey Bats out of post six and control the tempo, laying down fractions of :28.3, 1:00 and 1:29.2 on the way to a two length victory in 1:58. Fan favorite Stormont Ventnor was second and Winning American finished third.
“He’s a really nice horse to drive,” said McClure. “At Woodbine Mohawk (Park), the stretch sometimes gets a little long for him, but he’s really good gaited and he’s really manageable and, like I say, he gets around a half like a hoop on a barrel, so I expected him to race good today and he did, we were really moving going into that last turn.
“He got cheap fractions, which didn’t hurt, but he did race really well. Once he got the half in a minute I figured they’d have to do some racing to catch him.”
Like his stablemate, Holiday Road gelding Joey Bats did not race in the Ontario Sires Stakes last season, but he now has one win, one third and one seventh to his credit through three Gold Series appearances this season, boosting his earnings to $82,673.