CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Ontario’s exciting three-year-old pacing colts head to Mohawk Racetrack on Saturday night for the final Gold Series Elimination of their careers. Among the talented group of 10 lined up to compete for $116,225 are all four Gold Final winners and all but one of the division’s top 10 point earners.

Leading the colts into the event is reigning Gold Final winner Dreamfair Vogel, who sits atop the division standings with 187 points. The Village Jiffy son rides into Saturday’s duel on a three race win streak, which started when he lowered the Mohawk track record with a 1:49.4 triumph on Sept. 14 and continued through two consecutive Ontario Sires Stakes record performances at Windsor Raceway in the Sept. 29 Gold Elimination and Oct. 6 Gold Final.

The track record performance at Mohawk was the colt’s first start for top conditioner Bill Robinson of Hagersville and owners John and Mary Lamers have been delighted with the results the long considered move to Robinson’s barn has wrought on their colt.

“Bill Robinson is probably the best trainer in North America, and in my estimation I had to make a business decision. Sometimes when you get set in your ways you’re reluctant to change, but the first thing Bill did was go with no ear plugs, no shadow roll, no stud support, no quarter boots, no run down boots and he put a Blackjack bike on him,” says John Lamers. “Bill knows how to make those changes and he runs an awesome training centre.”

The Ingersoll resident was pleased with the job his regular trainer Jason Libby did handling Dreamfair Vogel, but felt a radical change was necessary to help the colt break the speed barrier he seemed to be bumping up against. He had explored the possibility of moving the colt into Robinson’s care last fall, but decided against it at the time, so when the subject arose again this season Robinson’s name was already at the top of the list.

“I thought about making the change when Jason broke his wrist last year. I spoke to Bill at the time and he said, “Sure, I’ll take the horse,” but I decided not to and we finished out the year here,” recalls Lamers. “Who knows how things would have worked out if I had done it then.”

As things stand, Lamers is confident Dreamfair Vogel will be a major player in the final Gold Series and the Nov. 16 Super Final and is hoping the colt can maintain his momentum through the Canadian Breeders Championship in late November and the Provincial Cup at Windsor Raceway in early December.

“He’s very fresh. He’s had just the nice number of starts to be fresh enough for the long run he has ahead of him now,” says Lamers, who also bred the winner of $431,143. “I don’t think the horse has really peaked yet. I think there is more in the tank.

“He is so, so competitive and just loves to do it,” adds the owner-breeder. “I’ve never owned a horse like that before.”

Dreamfair Vogel will attempt to extend his win streak from Post 6 in the fifth race on Saturday and Lamers was not sure which driver would be at the lines for the Gold Elimination. Robinson’s regular driver Randy Waples was listed on both Dreamfair Vogel and Pacific Titan.

“I expressed an interest in having Randy drive Vogel but Bill said he gives the drivers a choice. He just puts them down and doesn’t influence them either way. We’d like to have Randy, he knows the horse and gets along with him so well, but if he chooses Pacific Titan we’ll deal with that,” Lamers says. “Like Bill says, anybody can drive Vogel, he is a very, very easy horse.”

Pacific Titan will make his bid for a second Gold Elimination win from Post 4 for owner John Grant of Hornby. The other Gold Final winners, Silver D Moon, Armbro Warranty and Firstline Luck will try and gain the advantage from Posts 2, 3 and 9. All 10 starters will return to Mohawk’s five-eighths oval for the $130,000 Gold Final next weekend.

Racing gets under way at 7:40 pm on Saturday evenings at Mohawk Racetrack and the talented three-year-old pacing colts will dazzle fans in Race 5.