![\"Junior](\"https:\/\/woodbine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSC_6709-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>Junior Hot Shot and jockey Eswan Flores winning Race 8 on June 28, 2025 at Woodbine (Michael Burns Photo)<\/p>\nSunday\u2019s affair will be the eighth career stakes engagement for the T and T Racing Team colt, one that Ross had hoped to purchase himself at the 2022 CTHS Canadian Premier Yearling Sale.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a bonus for me when (breeder) Dr. Brian Van Arem chose to give me the horse,\u201d said Ross, of the dark bay, who sold for $55,000 (CDN). \u201cOriginally, as a 2-year-old, (former jockey and trainer) Francine Villeneuve had him. Things happened where she decided to become a jockey agent and Brian decided to send the horse over to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved this horse. I spotted him right away at the sale, but he just kept going up too high. His conformation is outstanding. He had a presence about him. He had a nice chest, nice bone, he was lined up nice in front, with a beautiful foot to hold that big body he\u2019s got. So, in layman\u2019s terms, when all those things come together that I like in a horse \u2013 he also had a nice angle on his back end \u2013 I really wanted to buy him. Add in that he is sired by Souper Speedy, who has been a great Ontario sire, and you have a very nice horse.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is exactly what Junior Hot Shot has been for his connections.<\/p>\n
His successes include victories in the 2024 Elgin Stakes and Lake Erie Stakes, and runner-up efforts in that year\u2019s Lake Huron and Lake Ontario. He made a winning debut on October 1, 2023, and was third next time out in the Frost King Stakes.\u00a0\u200b\u00a0\u200b<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have the horses might be a little tired for a day or two after they race, but this guy, he has got some toughness inside of him,\u201d said Ross in a prior interview.<\/p>\n
Steve Oneil Mclarty is the groom.<\/p>\n
Its Time to Shine, a son of Souper Speedy out of the Eddington mare, champion Platinum Steel, brings a 4-3-2 mark ($186,875 in purse earnings) from 15 starts into his second lifetime stakes engagement.<\/p>\n
The bay debuted on May 12, 2024, at Woodbine, and finished second, a head back of the winner, in a 6 \u00bd-furlong main track race. He broke his maiden in his fourth start, on July 28 of that year, at the same distance and over the same surface.<\/p>\n
Third in last year\u2019s running of the Lake Erie Stakes, the colt won three consecutive races from December 15, 2024, to May 18, 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cI own half of him in partnership with Rijack Farm and Jim Aston,\u201d noted Ross. \u201cThis horse had all the boxes I like to check off in any young horse. He\u2019s been a very nice Ontario-sired horse for me. We\u2019ve always liked him a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust very consistent,\u201d Ross continued. \u201cYou look over the last five starts and he\u2019s put together three wins and five in-the-money finishes. And he\u2019s doing great coming into the race.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his latest race, a six-furlong test over the Woodbine main track on June 29, Its Time to Shine finished second to Junior Hot Shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was nice. I love both of them, so it was great to see them battle it out for the win. I don\u2019t like to race my horses together in a stakes race, but it is the perfect race for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two worked together on July 13, covering four furlongs in :47.20 on the Woodbine main track.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey galloped out in a minute and change, and I was very pleased with that. They came back great. I did a three-eighths breeze (:36.60) with them a few days ago (July 20), just to stretch their legs out, and I\u2019m very happy with the way they are going towards the race.\u201d \u200b<\/p>\n