Local filly hopes to extend her season on Saturday

The harness racing meeting on Saturday night at Hanover Raceway wraps up its 2015 Ontario Sires Stakes season with a Fan Celebration featuring a host of giveaways and five $18,000 Grassroots divisions for the three-year-old trotting fillies.

Early arriving fans will have their choice of an Ontario Sires Stakes t-shirt or ball cap when they purchase a program at the Kiosk, and those arriving closer to the 7:15 pm post time could catch a t-shirt or ball cap as they are tossed out trackside throughout the evening.

In addition to the OSS-wear, one lucky fan will take home a 50-inch Smart TV package from HDTV in Hanover and Walkerton.

Personalities from CKNX AM 920, 101.7 The One and 94.5 Classic Rock will be on hand to visit with fans, award the Smart TV package to the prize winner, and present the trophy and blanket to each Grassroots division winner.

To top off the festivities, fans will also be treated to live music by the Craig Dougan Band.

Among those looking forward to the evening is trainer-driver Mark Etsell, who will send out sophomore trotting filly Tymal Signature from Post 4 in the third Grassroots division.

"I like Hanover, it's a nice track, it's been good to me for years," said the former resident of Walkerton.

"The surface is great and I always enjoy going there, even if it's just an overnight."

Etsell, who currently resides in Rockwood, ON, shares ownership of Tymal Signature with Bob Newton of Walkerton and Steve Organ of Aurora, ON, and the horseman expects a crowd of friends and family will be on hand to support the filly's bid for one of 20 Semi-final berths.

"Bob will be there and there will be a lot of people from the Hanover-Walkerton area. We seem to get lots of support that way," said Etsell. "A lot of people follow us still; it's going home kind of."

With a pair of seconds and one fourth in her first three Grassroots appearances, Tymal Signature currently sits twenty-third in the division standings with 58 points.

The daughter of Deweycheatumnhowe and Etsell's former racemare Blossom Seelster needs a few more points to extend her season through the Sept. 18 Semi-finals at Mohawk Racetrack.

"I haven't looked at the standings, where she is exactly, but I am assuming if she's first or second it'll give her at least a shot," noted Etsell, adding that he has not had much luck in stake events at Hanover Raceway recently.

Tymal Signature competed in the Dream Of Glory Eliminations on July 25 and finished fourth, failing to advance to the final, and her two-year-old stablemate Major Muscle won her Aug. 22 Balanced Image Elimination in a smart 2:00.3, then came up sick before the Final.

"It hasn't been great to us, let's put it that way," said Etsell with a chuckle. "We were a little disappointed after last week, but that's how the ball rolls and you've got to take the bad with the good.

"I was on the Board of Directors when we come up with those races, the Dream Of Glory and the Balanced Image, and I always wanted to win one, but maybe one of these days we'll get her done," he added.

Tymal Signature will look to reverse Etsell's luck in Saturday's sixth race, where she faces six other fillies also hoping to pad their point tallies, including Pointe Of Inquiry, who will start from Post 2 for Arthur resident Wayne Henry.

The three-year-old trotting fillies will wage their last regular season Grassroots battles in Races 1, 5, 6, 7, and 9 on Hanover Raceway's Fan Celebration night. Saturday's first race goes in behind the starting gate at 7:15 pm and the festivities get under way at 6 pm.

Ontario Horse Racing