ELORA, ON — Looking at the post position draw for Grand River Raceway’s Civic Holiday Monday matinee was a good news, bad news experience for trainer Carl Jamieson.

On the up side, his two entrants in the $300,000 Battle of Waterloo Final, freshman pacing colts Keep In Control and Samurai Seelster, drew Posts 2 and 3. On the down side, his two entrants in the $130,000 Gold Final, two-year-old pacing fillies Ms Harrington and Scary Stars, drew the outside Posts 7 and 8.

“It’s unbelievable. I was surprised the colts drew so good, after the fillies got the seven and eight,” admits Jamieson. “Post position means a lot.”

And Jamieson should know. The Princeton resident is a five-time winner of the Battle of Waterloo, three times over the old Elmira Raceway half-mile and twice at the new Grand River Raceway.

“On the outside, you use them up for an eighth of a mile before they even say go, keeping up to the starting gate,” explains the horseman. “It’s kind of a big handicap.”

Jamieson’s unlucky fillies advanced to Monday’s Gold Final with runner-up and fourth-place finishes in their respective Gold Eliminations. Ms Harrington stepped up from a July 21 Grassroots win to finish a length and a half behind Random Dreamer in a 1:55.2 mile, and Scary Stars was fourth in her third Gold Series start, five and a half lengths behind HF Velma.

Ms Harrington’s solid result came as a bit of a relief to Jamieson and his partners, the George Arthur Stable of Rockwood, Thomas Kyron of Etobicoke and Fred Brayford of Alliston. The filly was a $180,000 purchase at last fall’s Forest City Yearling Sale, and Jamieson figured it would be tough to recoup their investment if Ms Harrington failed to progress beyond the Grassroots program.

“I thought maybe she’d make another start in the Grassroots, before she tried the Gold, but I had some owners over from England so I thought I’d give her a shot at Grand River,” notes Jamieson, referring to Arthur Slack, one half of the George Arthur Stable. “She jumped up and raced pretty good.

“I was a little worried about her for a while,” he continues. “She’s good gaited and she’s always been a nice filly to work with, but she’s just a little on the small side. I’d like to have her a little taller and a little thicker.”

Jamieson was also satisfied with the effort Scary Stars put forth in her elimination effort, which saw the filly start from the outside post for the second time in a row.

“I can’t believe she got the eight-hole again Monday. She had the eight-hole in the elimination and the 10-hole the week before,” laments Jamieson. “She’d be a lot better filly if she drew a decent post position.”

On the one occasion the daughter of Astreos and Lorna Doone did land a decent post, in the July 16 Gold Series season opener, she finished second in spite of having broken equipment. Jamieson shares ownership on Scary Stars, who was a modest $12,000 purchase at the Forest City Sale, with Jerry Jamieson of Blenheim, Peter Porter of Port Dover and Norman Paquette of Val Therese.

Although his fillies will be handicapped by their post positions, Jamieson is hoping his colts can take advantage of the draw in the Battle of Waterloo. While Keep In Control and Samurai Seelster will start from Posts 2 and 3, two of the elimination winners, Somebeachsomewhere and Keystone Horatio, will start from Posts 7 and 8.

“I think the better ones got the seven and eight-hole,” notes the veteran trainer, who was honoured with the O’Brien Award for Horsemanship in 2006. “The horse that came up from Truro (Somebeachsomewhere), I think he’s the best, then Keystone Horatio, but post position changes that a bit.”

Jamieson will watch his two-year-old pacing fillies take flight in the third race on Grand River Raceway’s talent laden program, while the freshman pacing colts wage their battle in Race 9. Post time for the Elora oval’s popular Civic Holiday Monday program is 2 pm.

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