by Jeff Renton, media/communications, Woodbine Entertainment Group

Toronto, ON — Set to fire with two barrels on Monday evening (Jan. 15) at Woodbine, Rick Zeron will be sending out a two-pronged attack in the C$54,300 final of the Lifetime Dream Series for 4-year-old trotting mares.

Seeing as he trains and shares the ownership of Gyration Hanover, Zeron will be steering his SJ’s Caviar bay from the rail, while his other impressive pupil, Spare Time Rozie, will be sweep-minded when she leaves from post six. Zeron has listed Jody Jamieson to pilot Spare Time Rozie.

The three-week Lifetime Dream Series (race 6, 9:26 p.m.) was open to 4-year-old lasses that were non-winners of C$100,000 in lifetime earnings as of October 31, 2006.

Gyration Hanover closed impressively to finish a close second in the opening leg of the series, but made a break in stride at the start of her second round division, putting her right out of contention.

“She miscued last week in behind the gate because of the recall,” Zeron said of Gyration Hanover, whom he owns along with Rojan Stables. “There was a little confusion around there. She kind of got mad and just lost herself. She started to canter a little bit and I couldn’t get her back trotting. After that, she was just mad.

“She really showed what she could do in the opening leg, so I’ve just thrown last week’s race out. We’ve got the rail for the final and she should be a lot better on Monday.”

Taking a realistic assessment of the sort of trip he will look for in the final, Zeron expects he will be making a move on the leaders at some point in the contest.

“With this bunch, ‘Gyration’ is more the type of filly who will be coming from mid-pack,” said Zeron. “I think both mares (Gyration Hanover and Spare Time Rozie) will be in the hunt at the head of the lane. I imagine that ‘Rozie’ will be up there at the front and I’ll probably be coming at her.”

Based on what Spare Time Rozie has been doing since shipping into Zeron’s conditioning operation, the trainer seems to be bang on. The Oakville resident has had the bay daughter of Earl for three starts now, and each time she has been on the lead by the three-quarter pole.

Spare Time Rozie has gone on to post three victories, two of which have come in the opening legs of the Lifetime Dream.

“She’s just a good mare. Once we got her, we didn’t do a whole lot with her. We changed the shoeing and bridle a bit, put her on a little bit of a training schedule and she’s just come right around for me,” Zeron explained about the mare, who is owned by breeder John Cowan and the bay’s previous trainer, Darryl Laver.

“I think her upswing has been the case of being in a different place and taking on a different attitude,” continued Zeron. “Before this series, she had raced for me once up at Georgian Downs and she was phenomenal. She was good that night and also in the opening leg of this series, but the other night (in her second leg division) I moved her and she trotted :27-and-a-piece in the third quarter and after that she was just on cruise control coming home.”

As for versatility, Zeron explained that even though Spare Time Rozie’s recent lines show that she thrives on the front-end, she’s no one trick pony.

“She can race any way you want — she races like she is 5- or 6-years-old. She’s just very handy to work and deal with.”

The complete field for the Lifetime Dream is listed below.

Post Position — Horse — Listed Driver — Trainer
1 — Gyration Hanover — R. Zeron — R. Zeron
2 — Midnight Mona — P. MacDonell — T. O’Sullivan
3 — Penny Dream — M. Baillargeon — B. Wallace
4 — Classical Girl — L. Ouellette — W. Preszcator
5 — Freeze Frame — L. Ouellette — T. Raymer
6 — Spare Time Rozie — J. Jamieson — R. Zeron
7 — Renegade Ruby — C. Christoforou — J. Thomson
8 — Keystone Vi Va — P. MacDonell — P. Henriksen
9 — Windsong Cappucino — R. Mayotte — G. Stead
10 — Shezatramp — Do. Brown — Do. Brown
AE1 — Vijay Star — J. Jamieson — P. Hamilton