CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — When Cincinnati Kid clocked an Ontario Sires Stakes record in his Gold Elimination at Mohawk Racetrack last week, Anne Schlichtig experienced one of the most satisfying moments of her training career. After months of patient repetition things had finally clicked for the nervous two-year-old trotting colt, who is the early favourite for this Thursday’s $130,000 Gold Final.
“It’s very satisfying. I can’t tell you how satisfying it is,” says Schlichtig. “He was quite a project.”
A $75,000 yearling acquisition at last year’s Harrisburg Sale in Pennsylvania, Cincinnati Kid was a puzzle from the beginning. The Angus Hall son was slow to begin his training program due to sickness and was easily distracted once it got under way.
“He was a nervous sort. He would see things, some that were there and some that weren’t,” recalls Schlichtig, who trains for the Fred Monteleone Stable of Pompano Beach, FL. “He always had enough ability to do the work that was asked of him, but he never showed any special talent until the last two weeks. There was always speed there, but there was always a little hesitation on his part because he was focused on other things.”
After an extensive schooling and qualifying schedule at The Meadowlands, Cincinnati Kid made his racing debut in a Gold Elimination at Woodbine Racetrack on Aug. 18 and made a break at the start. Another qualifier and the sensitive youngster was ready for the Sept. 1 Champlain Stakes at Mohawk where he made a second early break, but was able to recover and post a third-place finish. In his third outing, an elimination for the Campbellville Stakes on Sept. 8, Cincinnati Kid was able to maintain his composure and advance to the Final with a solid third-place finish in a 1:56.2 mile.
On Sept. 15, over a Mohawk track rated two second slower than normal, Cincinnati Kid captured the $483,200 Campbellville Final with an impressive come-from-behind effort, and last week he and regular reinsman Jack Moiseyev used a similar strategy to capture the Gold Elimination in 1:56.1, lowering the OSS record by three-fifths of a second and equalling the Mohawk record for freshman trotters.
“He has settled enough now and is focused enough that he is able to overlook the things that would have bothered him before,” says Schlichtig. “I’ve been in this business all my life and it’s very unusual to see a colt progressing the way he is at this time of year. He has come into his own the way most colts do in June or July. Maybe he’s just a late bloomer. I don’t know, but we’ll take it, we’re having fun.”
Cincinnati Kid and Moiseyev will return to Post 7 for Thursday’s Gold Final and Schlichtig hopes the colt can maintain his new found composure for a few more races to solidify the things he has learned in the last three weeks.
“Obviously he is a talented colt and I would like to be able to race him a few more times to get him set mentally,” says the conditioner. “Normally I wouldn’t race a two-year-old this late, but he did start his season late, so as long as he is fresh and healthy I see no reason to stop just because of the date on the calendar.”
Heading into Thursday’s $130,000 contest Cincinnati Kid’s connections will have their eyes peeled for the other elimination winner Grand Sovereign, who will be hampered by Post 10, and reigning Gold Final champion Eilean Donon from Post 5.
Mohawk Racetrack’s first race goes postward at 7:40 pm on Thursday and the highly talented two-year-old trotting colts will take another run at the track record from Race 4.