DUNDAS, ON — At A Boy Eric stepped up to the plate at Flamboro Downs on Saturday to capture his first Ontario Sires Stakes victory of the season in Gold Elimination action.
The Earl son and veteran OSS driver Ross Battin fired off the wings from Post 4 and laid down fractions of :29.3, 1:00 and 1:30.1 without facing a challenge from the field of three-year-old trotting colts. At the wire At A Boy Eric was three-quarters of a length in front of favourite Captain Brady, stopping the teletimer at 2:00.
Semi Spot, owned by Kathlyn MacDonald of Paris, Walter Bauer of Brantford and Gary Silliphant of Simcoe, rounded out the top three and Hawaiian Clipper recovered from an early break to pick up the fourth spot in the Gold Final for Robert Burgess of Campbellville, Karin Olsson Burgess of Milton and Marsha Cohen of Asbury, NJ.
The win was At A Boy Eric’s third of the season through eight starts and more than doubled his 2003 earnings, pushing them to $50,226. Paula Wellwood trains the trotter for Wellwood Stables Inc. of Cambridge and breeder Barry Hearn of St. Pauls Station.
Sent off as the longest shot in the six-horse field, the colt returned $22.40 to win, $5.60 to place and $2.80 to show. Captain Brady’s second-place effort was worth $3.10 to place and $2.20 to show, while Semi Spot returned $2.10 to show. The exactor was worth $127.60 and the triactor paid $247.20.
In the second elimination Flamboro Downs fans got their money’s worth with a thrilling finish that saw reigning Gold Final champion JM Vangogh run down favourite Meadowview Sunny in the final strides to record a 1:58.2 triumph by a head.
The mile was one fierce battle after another for Meadowview Sunny, beginning before the halfway marker when Doug Brown sent the colt up to challenge Ethen Seelster and Chris Christoforou for the lead and the pacesetters refused to back down. With Meadowview Sunny maintaining the pressure on the outside the margin between the two colts was never more than half a length. Ethen Seelster finally tired of the fight heading down the stretch, but Meadowview Sunny did not have time to take a breath before JM Vangogh and Ron Waples fired up, trotting by to record their third straight Gold Series victory.
Waples drives and trains JM Vangogh for Paul Chambers of Harrington, DE and John Mello of Georgetown, MA. The partners have been delighted the with Earl son’s performance this season after a serious injury in a racing accident cut short his two-year-old campaign and threatened to end his career. In 11 starts JM Vangogh has recorded six wins, one second and three thirds for earnings of $208,303.
Ethen Seelster held off Jayport Express to earn the third-place share of the $52,117 purse.
The top four colts from each elimination will return to Flamboro Downs on Sunday, Aug. 17 for their $130,000 Gold Final, one of the featured races on the exciting Confederation Cup program.