REXDALE, ON — How Is That Fair heads into Monday evening’s Gold Series Eliminations at Woodbine Racetrack as a heavy favourite for the fifth time in his brief career, in spite of drawing Post 9 in the second elimination.

With two Gold Final victories under his belt and runner-up finishes in both of his previous elimination appearances, How Is That Fair has established himself as the heavyweight in a two-year-old trotting colt division laden with talent, and trainer Scott McEneny says the youngster is at the top of his game heading into Monday night’s contest.

“He was great at Flamboro (July 2, 9) and he was real good at Windsor (July 27, Aug. 3), but he wasn’t 100 per cent in the Final. He acted a little sick afterward,” says McEneny. “I think he’s back on his game though, I trained him yesterday (Thursday) and he was good.”

Although McEneny would prefer a post closer to the rail in Monday’s second race, he notes that the Mr Lavec colt was due for a less favourable draw after having inside posts in all four of his previous Gold Series starts. The Waterdown resident does not expect the post to affect the colt’s ability to score a top three finish and advance to the $130,000 Gold Final on Aug. 25.

“When we qualified him he was off by 20 lengths at the half and was only beat by a length,” says the trainer. “He always has something left at the end of the mile.”

McEneny shares ownership on How Is That Fair with Warren Waxman of Dundas and Alan Alber of Thornhill. The trio plucked the trotter out of last fall’s Harrisburg Yearling Sale for $40,000 US and McEneny says the winner of $144,263 began to show his star potential two weeks after his arrival in Ontario.

“The first week he was very ignorant so I had to do a little operation, and after that he settled right down,” says the horseman. “I didn’t wait very long, about a week after I bought him.”

Since How Is That Fair underwent his transformation into a gelding the trotter has been near perfect in every aspect. The only time he still acts up is during the post parade before each race.

“In the post parade he gets a little hot and warm,” McEneny explains. “I’ve been playing around with a few things to calm him down and he’s getting better. Last week he was really good.”

Regular reinsman Trevor Ritchie will pilot How Is That Fair on Monday, and among the other 10 horses the pair will have their eye on in Race 2 is Windsor elimination winner Eilean Donon from Post 2.

The other two Gold Eliminations go postward as Race 1 and Race 4 on Woodbine Racetrack’s 7:40 pm program Monday. The top three finishers from each elimination, plus one fourth-place finisher drawn by lot, will return to the Rexdale oval on Monday, Aug. 25 for their third $130,000 Gold Final. Fans unable to make it to the racetrack can catch all the elimination excitement on The Score Network from 7:30 to 10 pm.