REXDALE, ON — Three weeks ago James Dean was not sure he would be making the trip to Woodbine Racetrack for the $2.4 million Super Final Championships this Saturday, but since two-year-old pacing colt Doonbeg swept through the last Gold Series event with a pair of impressive victories the Campbellville resident has been hoping the colt can maintain his form for one last start.
“He is on top of his game right now, I hope it lasts another week,” says Dean. “He’s feeling good, acting sharp and is good and sound, so if we can get a bit of racing luck he should be okay.”
Heading into the last Gold event Doonbeg had made only one start in the Ontario Sires Stakes program — a disappointing seventh in the Sept. 25 Gold Eliminations at Windsor Raceway — and had been battling a viral illness for almost one month. In the days leading up to the Oct. 29 elimination Dean was still monitoring the Camluck colt’s white blood cell count and being careful not to stress his recovering cardiovascular system. As a result the Campbellville resident was not sure whether the pacer was ready to bounce back to the form that saw him win three in a row at Mohawk in August.
However, Doonbeg proved he was back on his game with 1:52.4 score in the elimination and then came back last weekend with another 1:52.4 come-from-behind performance to capture the Gold Final and bring a halt to division leader Alastor Hanover’s eight race win streak.
“I was kind of worried around the last turn, the flow wasn’t going anywhere,” Dean says about the pint sized pacer’s Gold Final effort. “I don’t know how far back they charted him at the three-quarters, but at the head of the lane he looked like he was even farther back. I couldn’t believe he got up to win it.
“He’s an amazing animal, I tell you. Nothing this horse does surprises me any more, it should, but it doesn’t.”
Dean trains Doonbeg for breeders Clay Harland Horner and Scott Horner of Toronto and Stew and Joanne Firlotte’s Torlando Farms Inc. of Orlando, FL. The Firlotte’s will be on hand for Saturday’s race, making the trip up from their home in Florida for the colt’s run at the division title.
“Stew and Joanne are coming up Friday. They’ll be here Saturday night for the race,” says Dean, who was a key part of the highly successful Firlotte stable before serious health problems forced Stew Firlotte to retire two years ago.
Doonbeg and regular reinsman Jody Jamieson will start from Post 3 in Saturday’s sixth race and heading into the $300,000 battle Dean is maintaining the same routine he started before the Oct. 29 Gold Elimination.
“We’re just jogging and going one slow trip a day, and I mean slow, like 2:50 or 2:45,” says the trainer. “I’m not going to change anything.”
While Dean strives to maintain the same routine with Doonbeg this week, driver Rick Zeron is looking for a change in strategy with two-year-old trotting colt Majestic Son. The pair heads into their $300,000 Super Final off a runner-up performance in Gold Final action at the Rexdale oval on Nov. 4 that saw the young trotter start from Post 10, sit eighth until the top of the stretch and then sprint home in :27.3, gaining six lengths on winners Was It A Dream and Paul MacDonell in the stretch.
“The horse to beat (Saturday) is Paul MacDonell’s, no doubt about that,” says Oakville resident Zeron. “But if I can get up close to him we’ll have a better shot, instead of starting back where I was last week.”
Working in Zeron’s favour is the fact that Majestic Son will start from Post 2 on Saturday, two spots closer to the rail than he has ever started in his 12 race career and eight spots closer than he started in last weekend’s Gold Final.
“The two-hole is a great advantage to me,” notes Zeron, who will pilot the colt for trainer Mark Steacy of Lansdowne and owners David Reid of Glenburnie, David McDonald of Cornwall, A. K. Malik Stable of Ottawa and Dr. Malcolm Man Son Hing of Nepean. “If I can get him into contention, get him up close, we’ll take it from there.”
Post time at Woodbine Racetrack on Saturday evening is 7:40 pm, with the Ontario Sires Stakes stars taking over the program in Races 3 through 10. The two-year-old trotting colts and pacing colts will wage their season ending battles in Races 5 and 6.
For complete Super Final entries please go to:
http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/ewdbssa.html