GLOUCESTER, ON — Ontario’s top three-year-old pacing colts wasted no time declaring open season on track records when Silver D Moon came within two-fifths of a second of Rideau Carleton Raceway’s record in the first Gold Series event of the season.
The Run The Table colt and driver Mario Baillargeon blazed across the finish line in 1:52.4, just two-fifths of a second slower than the track record set by Ontario Sires Stakes star Northern Luck in 1997. Immediately after the race Baillargeon and his brother Benoit, who trains Silver D Moon, said their goal in next week’s Gold Final is to set a new standard for speed at the five-eighths mile oval.
“My horse just missed a track record tonight by three-fifths of a second, and he raced a solid back half in about 55 seconds with us sitting back early in the race. It takes a good colt to do that,” said Mario Baillargeon after the race. “Next week we go for the money and then the track record.”
“My colt is ready and we plan on attacking the track record here at Canada’s fastest five-eighths mile track,” added Benoit Baillargeon.
Leaving from Post 9, Silver D Moon landed sixth in the early going and did not make a move until the halfway marker where he began a long drive up the outside to reach the front. Through the stretch he held off a charge from a fast closing Pacific Titan to post the three-quarter length victory for the Estate of Lonnie Beck of Stockton, CA.
Race favourites Paul MacDonell and Pacific Titan circled three-wide at the three-quarter pole to get into the game and laid down a :27.4 last quarter to reach the runner-up spot. Early leader Zacs Rocker held on for third. Fourth-place finisher Luckyisasluckydoes will also advance to the May 24 Gold Final while fifth-place finisher Judge Cam will be at the mercy of the draw as only one of the two fifth-place horses will earn a berth in the $130,000 Final.
Dreamfair Vogel captured the first elimination in a comparatively pedestrian 1:55.2 after getting a text book drive from Paul Mackenzie. The driver sat patiently behind pacesetter and fan favourite Camystic through fractions of :28, :56.4 and 1:26.1 and then shifted Dreamfair Vogel into overdrive through the stretch, reaching the wire two lengths ahead of Camystic. Firstline Luck finished another two lengths back in third, with Chomp The Bit and Apache Flyer rounding out the top five.
“My colt raced large. He paced a perfect trip behind Gregg McNair’s Camystic and scored a big win up the passing lane,” said Mackenzie in the Rideau Carleton winner’s circle. “He felt strong and should have a solid shot at striking gold in next week’s final.”
Jason Libby trains Dreamfair Vogel for breeders John and Mary Lamers of Ingersoll, who were in the stands to see the colt’s 2002 Ontario Sires Stakes debut. The Village Jiffy son banked $139,547 in provincial competition at two and was also the winner of the $250,000 Battle of Waterloo at Elmira Raceway where he lowered the track record.
What that means is that when Dreamfair Vogel and Silver D Moon square off with the rest of the talented Gold Final field on May 24, Rideau Carleton Raceway’s track record will have a bulls eye painted all over it.