CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Ten remarkably talented two-year-old pacing colts return to Mohawk Racetrack on Monday for their $130,000 Gold Final.

Elimination winner Alastor Hanover will be looking for a third straight victory over the Campbellville oval after capturing a two-year-old open event on July 4 and winning his elimination last Tuesday in a smart 1:53.

“I was much more impressed with him the other night, with Mario (Baillargeon) taking him off the pace,” says trainer Mark Ford. “Let’s just hope the best is yet to come.”

The elimination was just the third time Ford has raced Alastor Hanover, who came to him from Bedford, PA resident Roger Hammer’s barn, but it was the seventh time the Rustler Hanover son had stepped up behind a starting gate.

“He might just be a week or two ahead of some of those other colts,” says Ford. “When they come from Roger, they are pretty much there, all we have to do is remember to put him in every week.

“Roger is a very, very, very good horseman,” adds the 34 year old resident of Slate Hill, NY. “It’s really an honour to have a horse like that for Roger.”

Hammer taught Alastor Hanover his early lessons after owner Vicki Fair of Bedford, PA acquired the colt from the Harrisburg Yearling Sale for $13,000. The colt made four starts at The Meadows before shipping into Ford’s barn for the season opening Gold Series event at Kawartha Downs on June 28 where he made an early break and finished fifth.

“I took him to Kawartha and he couldn’t get around there too well,” recalls Ford. “He touched a knee and made a break.”

Ford made a few minor adjustments to the colt’s shoes and equipment and put him in the July 4 two-year-old open at Mohawk, where he was an effortless winner in 1:55.2. Sent off as the favourite in last week’s elimination, the colt did not disappoint, sitting third through the early going and then roaring by pacesetter Nothern Cowboy in the stretch to record the three length 1:53 victory.

Baillargeon will be back in the race bike Monday, steering Alastor Hanover from Post 5 in the $130,000 contest, and Ford is expecting another solid effort from the young pacer.

“I think we needed a week to get used to each other,” says the trainer of $4 million winner Gallo Blue Chip. “He’s a little high strung, a little hard to get along with, but he acts like he’ll be all right.”

The other elimination winners, Streak Of Luck, U Lucky Guy and Armbro Domi will line up from Posts 1, 6 and 10 in the second $130,000 Gold Final on the freshman pacing colts’ schedule.

Mohawk Racetrack’s first race parades onto the track at 7:20 pm and the two-year-old pacing colts will battle for Gold Final glory in Race 5.

For complete entries please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/emohsmo.html#N5