REXDALE, ON — Two-year-old trotting colt Coventry used a lightning fast mile in the Aug. 12 Review Stake as a springboard to an impressive 1:57.4 victory in Gold Elimination action at Woodbine Racetrack on Monday evening.
Just six days after his runner-up finish in a 1:56.2 division of the Review in Springfield, IL, the Mr Lavec son and owner-trainer-driver Douglas Ackerman delivered an impressive come from behind effort to land their second Gold Elimination victory. The 1:57.4 mile was the fastest of the three Gold Eliminations and saw Armbro Believe and favourite In Conchnito also advance to the Aug. 25 Gold Final.
Also scoring their second Gold Elimination victory were Eilean Donon and Tom Strauss, who captured the second Elimination in a flawless front-end performance. Leaving from Post 2 the Angus Hall son controlled the pace from the start, laying down fractions of :27.2, :59 and 1:29.3 en route to the 1:58.3 victory. Favourite How Is That Fair recovered from an early break to finish second and Grand Sovereign rounded out the top three in the $37,870 contest.
“He is a pretty nice colt. I trained him early for Brad when he first got him and I was pretty high on him right from the first time I sat behind him,” said Strauss from the winner’s circle. “He is smart. From the first time I raced him I said that he is smart. Whoever broke him in did a heck of a job.”
Brad Maxwell trains Eilean Donon for breeders Steve Stewart of Paris, KY and Joseph Taylor of Lexington, KY and their partner Benjamin Taylor of Nicholasville, KY. The talented youngster made his Ontario Sires Stakes debut in the Grassroots, capturing his July 10 division at Kawartha Downs in 2:03.3, and then won a July 27 Gold Elimination at Windsor Raceway in 2:01.2 before finishing fourth in the Aug. 3 Final from Post 9.
The other division went to Armbro Balance, who was also a winner at Kawartha Downs before graduating into the Gold Series at Windsor where he made an early break that took him out of contention. The Balanced Image son redeemed himself on Monday with a solid effort that saw him sixth at the three-quarters and on top by two lengths at the wire.
Michael Guitard trains Armbro Balance for the Haryott Stables Inc. of Etobicoke and Brian Haryott said the colt’s problems at Windsor simply stemmed from the size of the track.
“The horse was used to getting going on a different track and when they came around the first turn he was used to the three turns. He only went around the second [turn] and then he thought he was going off the track,” explained the owner. “So he tried to get off the track and when he was pulled on he made a little break on us.”
Paul MacDonell engineered the 2:00.3 victory and will have a choice between two colts in next week’s Final as he also qualified Haryott’s colt Armbro Believe in the third elimination.
Nichols Lavec and E L Luxury Trade also closed well to be second and third behind Armbro Balance, with favourite Cincinnati Kid taking himself out of the action early with a break.
The top three finishers from each elimination will advance to the Aug. 25 Gold Final along with one of the fourth-place finishers — Salute A, Beardmore or Shipps Cruiser.