Ohio-sired 2-year-olds get their "welcome to the show" moment on Saturday night at Eldorado Scioto Downs when three $150,000 Next Generation stakes highlight a Buckeye State card that offers a dozen races for the hometown crew and over one million in purse money. Anthony MacDonald's thestable.ca has representation in all three Next Generation races, an event which requires the purchase of slots at a cost of $8,000-$12,000 and doesn't require nomination of a horse until entries are due. "Anytime you can put on a showcase for the talent in a state I think it is a good idea, whether it is July 4 weekend like the Next Generation or Sire Stakes finals later in the year," said MacDonald. "Some of the people who are getting their horses ready early end up selling their horses for the Next Generation. So it opens up a market – it's been tough to buy horses this year – where you can sell your horse or buy one and race for $150,000 right off the bat." In fact two horses have changed barns going into Saturday's races, with Speedbewithyou moving from Chris Beaver to Todd Luther in the filly trot, and I'llbetyourboots going from Judy Roegner to Ron Burke in the colt and gelding pace. The Next Generation also drew some of the bigger barns in the country. In addition to Burke having an entrant in all three races, Marcus Melander and Nancy Takter train one entrant in the filly trot. Ohio regulars Chris Beaver, Virgil Morgan Jr. and Erv Miller are also well-represented. For MacDonald, he seems to like his chances of getting a big piece of the $150,000 prize in two of the three features. To succeed in the tenth race 2-year-old filly trot, the 48-year-old driver will have to navigate post eight with Tomboy Strong, a Long Tom homebred from The Stable. "We weren't going broke enough, so we decided to really expedite it by buying some broodmares," joked MacDonald, who said they now have 11 broodmares and eight yearlings this year. "Last year we had her full brother and he wasn't as good. We ended up selling him. [Tomboy Strong] is our first true-blue quality homebred." ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Tomboy Strong won her first career start at The Meadows in 1:58 1/5 making her the fifth-fastest filly in the race, and MacDonald is hoping they mix it up so he can get his charge into the race. "Anyone that says they aren't concerned with the eight-hole is either naïve or super-confident or an idiot," said MacDonald. "She races better from off-the-pace and taking a quick look at it there seems to be a lot of early speed. It is a 2-year-old trot, so the first job for everyone will be to keep them trotting. She doesn't generally make breaks and she's a pretty level-headed filly. If they mix it up at all, she has a really big shot." Perhaps MacDonald's best chance of getting his picture taken comes with 2-1 morning-line favorite Uncle Danny in the 2-year-old colt and gelding trot slated as race 11. The son of Uncle Peter was an easy winner in 1:57 1/5 in his debut at The Meadows and checked in second clocked in 1:56 3/5 in his second start. "He's a super-talented colt with lots of speed," said MacDonald, who will steer Uncle Danny from post five. "My only concern is that in the past flip-flops haven't been friendly footwear for Scioto, so we've taken them off and opted for a 9/16 trotting shoe. I don't think they will be a problem, but there is always that tiny question in my mind. He trained well with them on the other day." MacDonald finds himself back in the eight-hole with Highest Honors for the 2-year-old colt and gelding pace carded as race 13. "He's a nice colt. I don't really know what to think of him. In his first start he was just a little green on the front-end and got picked off. Last week I thought we'd give him an easy race at Northfield and he drew the eight-hole there also, so we ended up racing him easy and he finished up well," said MacDonald. "He's a handy horse but he's not the type who can just pull at the three-eighths and fly by everybody. He's going to need a lot of help." Highest Honors is 12-1 on the morning line and the gelded son of Summa Cum Laude will have his hands full with another from the sire, the previously mentioned I'llbetyourboots, who already owns a race-best 1:52 2/5 victory. The 16-race Scioto card begins at 5:50 P.M. (EDT) and will be featured on Fox Sports 2 as well, as streamed live on the Ohio Harness Horsemen's Association Facebook page and YouTube channel.