CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Gary Kingshott would love to see Transcending capture his Gold Elimination at Mohawk Racetrack on Sunday, but after the roller coaster ride the three-year-old pacing colt has taken him on over the last six months, just watching the Grinfromeartoear son take his place on the starting gate among Ontario’s best may be satisfaction enough.

The Rockwood resident calls Transcending a hard luck horse, but �hard luck’ barely scratches the surface of the battles the colt has fought to get to his Ontario Sires Stakes debut. Trained down with a light touch as a two-year-old, Transcending made five starts late last fall, recording one win and two seconds before his career went off the rails.

“Everything was going perfect until he turned three, then he popped a quarter crack. It was in the winter and I didn’t think much of it, but then he popped another, and another, and another until all four heels were splitting,” recalls Kingshott. “We battled that through all of the winter. Once we’d get him sound on one foot, he’d be sore on another. We ended up doing almost surgery on his feet to cut them out to the hairline.”

After they cut the hoof back, Kingshott and his blacksmith put special shoes on Transcending, and the colt finally began to grow a strong, healthy hoof. Once Kingshott was confident the colt had overcome his foot troubles, he qualified Transcending at Mohawk on June 18 and then entered him in a non winners of two races contest at Mohawk on June 24. Transcending and driver Jack Moiseyev delivered a solid 1:53.1 victory and Kingshott figured they were back on track, until the colt came up sick after the race.

“He won in 1:53.1, paced home in :27, and then he got sick and we lost another month,” recalls Kingshott, who shares ownership on the colt with Randall Bennett of Toronto. “So he’s been a little bit of a hard luck horse.”

Transcending did not make his next appearance on a racetrack until the July 21 Canadian Breeders Championship Eliminations at Mohawk, where he delivered an impressive effort up the outside to finish second behind Bigtime Ball. In the July 28 Final Transcending battled Domitian Hanover to a :26.2 opening quarter, was shuffled back as far as seventh through the mile, and then sprinted home to finish fifth, five and a half lengths behind winner Domitian Hanover.

“He really went a big trip,” says Kingshott. “It seems like everything is coming along a lot better. He’s gone almost three months without having any foot problems now.”

While Transcending’s return to health has been a relief for the trainer and Bennett, it may mean even more to Kingshott’s 17-year-old son Gregory, who pointed the colt out to his father at the 2005 Forest City Yearling Sale.

“My son picked him out as a yearling. He liked Jennas Beach Boy, and the colt’s out of a Jennas Beach Boy mare,” explains Kingshott. “We were looking at yearlings, nothing real serious, and he said, �You’ve got to have a look at this horse.'”

Hammered down to Kingshott and Bennett for just $10,000, Transcending has paid his way in spite of all his health troubles. Through five freshman starts and nine starts this season, the colt has amassed a record of two wins, five seconds, one third and earnings of $56,138. And Kingshott says the young pacer has been a pleasure to work with all the way along.

“He’s a real professional on the track,” says the conditioner. “He’s a real class horse. He doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary, he just seems to do everything right.”

Moiseyev will pilot Transcending from Post 3 in the second of three Gold Eliminations on Sunday, facing off against Gold Final winners Bigtime Ball from Post 1 and Sergei Seelster from Post 9. The pair will need a top three finish to guarantee their return to Mohawk for the $130,000 Gold Final on Aug. 12.

Post time at Mohawk Racetrack on Sunday is 7:20 pm, with the three-year-old pacing colts battling in Races 3, 5, and 9.

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