Brnjas and team start strong

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Even though their stable star Johnny Bear is sidelined, Colebrook Farms and trainer Ashlee Brnjas have gotten off to a hot start at the meet. Through Sunday, Brnjas ranked fourth in the standings with eight wins from 25 starters, a 32 percent win clip.

Brnjas said the chemistry she has with her new assistant trainer Patrick Dixon has been a key part of her success. Dixon was the assistant to trainer Reade Baker, who retired last fall.

“I’ve had some health issues this past year, and he’s been wonderful,” Brnjas said. “I think we’re a good team, because I do a lot of the administrative and clerical stuff right now, but I can’t physically do boots on the ground. I think he enjoys the fact that he doesn’t have to deal with the drama of dealing with the owners, entries, jocks’ agents, and all that stuff. He gets to focus on the horses.”

Brnjas registered a hat trick in a trio of allowance races on May 26, with Analyzer, Bear Paw, and Now Play Nice. She has nominated the restricted stakes winner Bear Paw to the Grade 3 Trillium Stakes here June 16.

“I’d never won three in a day, so that was pretty special,” Brnjas said.

Johnny Bear, victorious in the last two runnings of the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf, is on the mend after fracturing a cannon bone last winter at Gulfstream.

“We shipped him up to Ocala and did the surgery right away,” Brnjas said. “They put screws in, and he’s on track to be perfectly fine. It was a pretty clean break. I’ve seen all the follow-up X-rays, and it looks very positive.”