REXDALE, ON — Randy Hill knows that it will be tough for In The Irons to replicate his elimination win from Post 9 at Woodbine Racetrack this Sunday, but the Ohsweken resident is still hopeful that a Gold Final title is within the three-year-old pacing colt’s reach.

“We’ve kind of got him figured out,” says Hill. “He looked good the other night. I hope he can do that feat again come Sunday.”

In The Irons paced to a personal best 1:50.3 triumph in his Gold Elimination last weekend, sprinting away from Post 7 and leading the field through fractions of :26.2, :55.2 and 1:23.1 before accelerating down the stretch to the three length victory over reigning Gold Final champion Deuces And Jacks.

The win was the Mach Three son’s second straight, after a long dry spell that stretched back to an April 28 leg of the Diplomat Series at Woodbine Racetrack. After prepping for his sophomore season with a pair of qualifiers in early March, In The Irons logged two second-place finishes in legs of the Apaches Fame Series and then rang up four straight — the Apaches Fame Final, a leg and the final of the Youthful Series, and a leg of the Diplomat Series — before finishing second by less than a length to eventual North America Cup and Little Brown Jug victor Tell All.

Off those early efforts, Hill sent In The Irons out in the Burlington Stakes, where he finished second, and the North America Cup, where he finished sixth in his elimination and fourth in the consolation, and then gave the colt a well deserved break. In The Irons made his Ontario Sires Stakes debut at Georgian Downs on July 7, and failed to advance out of the elimination. He also missed the final in his second stab at the Gold Series colts on Aug. 5 at Mohawk.

After a second in his elimination and fifth in the final of the Confederation Cup, In The Irons returned to Gold Series action and logged a second-place result in his elimination and the final of the September event at Kawartha Downs. A 1:52.4 victory in an overnight event at Woodbine Racetrack on Oct. 13 set the pacer up for last weekend’s personal best.

“He’s pretty honest and he’s got a big heart,” says Hill, who shares ownership on the winner of $302,468 longtime friends Mike and Leslie Davis of Ohsweken. “He likes to play and he likes to kick, he’ll test you, but when it comes down to it, he knows his business.

“I hate to say he’s spoiled, but I kind of think he is a bit,” adds the horseman with a chuckle.

After 22 starts this season In The Irons does not require a great deal of work heading into each race, and Hill says the youngster has never been a horse that takes his training miles too seriously.

“He’s an awful horse to train,” admits the horseman. “He’s lazy, you have to stay after him, but that’s good though, he looks after himself.”

Regular reinsman Phil Hudon will steer In The Irons from Post 9 on Friday, while the other elimination winner, Tinys Million, gets Post 2 and Deuces And Jacks starts from Post 8.

Last week’s victory bumped In The Irons into the top 10 point earners and assured him of a berth in the Nov. 10 Super Final, so Hill is hoping the colt comes up with a fifth straight solid effort to position him as one of the favourites in the lucrative season finale.

The three-year-old pacing colts will battle in the last Gold Final of their careers in the fifth race on Woodbine Racetrack’s Sunday evening program, with the first race going postward at 7:40 pm.

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