Robin Horsfield battled his way to a fourth-place finish in the fourth round of the Ontario Cup, at Horseshoe Valley near Barrie.

The field was somewhat depleted as the weekend also featured a World Cup in Andorra and a Canada Cup in Quebec.

Former professional Peter Glassford took the victory, showing that he is well primed for his attempt at clinching the Canadian national title next weekend. Horsfield had led the field of more than 20 riders out on the first lap before succumbing to the blistering pace of Glassford.

“Leading out the race is a goal that my coach and I have discussed,” Horsfield said.

“There is a price to be paid for leading early, however. We also know that if we are truly changing the target to be a top Ontario rider, that the front of the race is where I need to be. I can't afford to wait around.”

Those sentiments were echoed by coach Mark Brown, who believes Horsfield’s new-found ability to lead from the front shows encouraging signs of his progression in the sport.

“The ability to ride at the front of a provincial-level race for any sustained period of time should not be underestimated,” he said.

“This is not something Robin could do last year. If we look back we know that for a period of time Robin was targeting a top-ten finish in Ontario.

“This grew to become a goal of ‘top group’, and now he really is starting to kick at the podium. It’s always been a long game and Robin is continuing to do things that weren’t possible for him a short time ago.”