DUNDAS, ON — Reigning two-year-old trotting colt champion Classic Lavec will begin defence of his Gold Final title on Saturday afternoon at Flamboro Downs, when he joins 17 of his peers in two $48,385 Gold Eliminations.
The Mr Lavec son and driver Paul MacDonell will start from Post 4 in the second elimination and owner-breeder Stan Malec says the draw was a good first step toward the gelding’s fourth victory.
“We are very happy about that (Post 4),” says the Belle River resident. “We trained him up a bit today and hopefully he will be ready for Saturday; we are certain he will be.”
Classic Lavec has not raced since his Oct. 4 Gold Final triumph so trainer Albert White sent the gelding to Windsor Raceway to qualify on Oct. 20. In with older horses Classic Lavec finished second by three-quarters of a length, trotting around the five-eighths mile oval in 2:01.
“After the Gold Final we gave him a week off and jogged him back and then they qualified him last Wednesday,” says Malec. “He’s pretty sharp right now.”
Although Classic Lavec was not favoured to capture the October Gold Final, his 1:57.3 victory came as no surprise to Ontario Sires Stakes fans who had seen the colt assemble a record of two wins, one second, two thirds and two fourths in his first eight starts.
“I said to Paul, I don’t remember if it was the week before or that day, but I said �I’d really like to win one of these Golds,’ and he said, �It’ll come,'” recalls Malec. “So it was a pleasant surprise. We were really pleased.
“When we train him he’s always shown a tremendous amount of speed, but he hadn’t had to use it. He’d had a lot of bad breaks through the season,” adds the owner. “So it was nice to see him win.”
Malec, who has raised two siblings to Classic Lavec, expects that the gelding will continue to develop and improve and says he has even noticed a change in the trotter’s physique since the first of October.
“I was away for two and a half weeks, up north hunting, and when I came back I said, �Geez Albert, he’s really filled out,'” recalls Malec. “He’s filled out, is more mature and bigger.”
Classic Lavec will test his new shape against eight rivals in the fifth race on Saturday, facing off against former Gold Elimination winners Stonebridge Diablo and Hudd from Posts 1 and 9.
Post time for the Dundas oval’s Saturday afternoon program in 2:45 pm with the two-year-old trotting colts squaring off in Races 2 and 5. The top four finishers from each elimination will return to Flamboro Downs on Friday, Nov. 5 for the last Gold Final of their freshman campaign.