Barrow off to strong start as rookie trainer

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – For a rookie trainer, Rodney Barrow has a wealth of experience, which helped him make quite a splash during the early portion of the Woodbine meet.

Barrow has won with 5 of 16 starters here in his first training stint, good for a 31 percent win average. Last Sunday, he sent out Forester’s Fortune to win his second race in a row in an Ontario-sired allowance. Last year at 2, Forester’s Fortune bolted at the top of the stretch before ending up a distant third in each of his first two starts, against maidens and in the Victoria Stakes.

Barrow won a $10,000 maiden event with Munnings Beach, and won a pair of $7,500 claimers with Pierian, who finished up the track in both of her starts last fall.

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Barrow, 56, said he has worked at Woodbine for 31 years since coming to Canada from his native Barbados. His first job as an assistant was for trainer Joe Attard in 1990, and he also had a long stint as trainer John Ross’s assistant.

Barrow was the assistant to trainer Laurie Silvera last year. When Silvera died in March, Barrow inherited some of the horses owned by Archie Lee, including Forester’s Fortune and Munnings Beach.

“Archie decided to give me a chance,” Barrow said. “He’s very happy. [Forester’s Fortune] has been a different horse since we [gelded] him.”

Off some fast works, a debuting Limerick Lassie was 5-1 in a six-furlong maiden special last Saturday, during which she faded after dueling