CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — After eight months of careful lessons and conditioning, the first group of Ontario-sired two-year-olds will test their skills in Gold Series action at Mohawk Racetrack on Sunday, July 15.

Three of the hopefuls will hail from the Carl Jamieson stable, but the Princeton resident admits he does not have as good a read on each colt’s ability as he has had in years past. A perennial conditioner of top two-year-olds, Jamieson’s early season assessment was hampered by a pervasive virus that swept through his barn in recent weeks.

“I don’t even know who’s good and not good. It’s hit and miss. I guess we’ll race them and see,” says the horseman, who was honoured as the 2006 recipient of the O’Brien Award for Horsemanship. “Usually at this time of year you kind of know what you’ve got, but we’ve had a bunch of sickness around the barn.”

Of his six Ontario-sired two-year-old pacing colts, Jamieson will harness Keep In Control, Allamerican Tiki and Samurai Seelster at Mohawk on Sunday, and send the other three to the Grassroots program at Kawartha Downs on June 19. Keep In Control will start from Post 1 in Race 3, Allamerican Tiki will start from Post 2 in Race 6 and Samurai Seelster gets Post 1 in the seventh race.

“That was a good draw, no question about that. Two rails and a two-hole, you can’t get much better,” notes the conditioner, who will place the care of all three colts in the hands of his son, driver Jody Jamieson, for the duration of their elimination effort.

Keep In Control, who Jamieson, Edward Smith of Rockwood, Brian Paquet of Quebec, QC and Jocelyn Faucher of Beaupre, QC purchased for $16,000 US at last fall’s Lexington Select Yearling Sale, heads into Sunday’s event off a 1:58.3 win in a July 7 qualifier at Mohawk. The son of Grinfromeartoear and Keep Current boasts a trio of siblings that have earned more than $100,000 and Jamieson would love to see the leggy youngster begin to follow in their footsteps.

Allamerican Tiki caught Jamieson’s eye at the Two-year-olds in Training Sale on May 27 and the trainer and Ken Henwood of Mississauga offered up $44,000 for the son of Grinfromeartoear and Thurstons Love E.

“I just liked the way he qualified,” explains Jamieson. “He’s a small, little horse, but he’s very game.”

The veteran of Jamieson’s trio, Allamerican Tiki has three qualifiers and two races under his belt. The colt’s most recent effort was a runner-up finish in a two-year-old event at Western Fair Raceway on June 22, where he finished just a quarter length behind the winner in 2:00.3.

Samurai Seelster captured a qualifier at Mohawk on June 23, stopping the clock at 2:01, then went north to Georgian Downs for his racing debut on July 8, finishing third with a 1:58.3 effort. Jamieson, Fred Brayford of Alliston, the George Arthur Stable of Rockwood and Andrew Sayer of Cumbria, ENG purchased Samurai Seelster from last fall’s Forest City Yearling Sale for $25,000.

All three colts have been getting some special attention this week as they prepare for their Ontario Sires Stakes debut, and Jamieson is hoping they are all fully recovered from the bug that interrupted their training.

“They don’t act like they are sick, but their blood shows that they’re out of whack,” says Jamieson of the virus, “And you like to get them right before you race them.”

A total of 24 colts will square off in the Gold Series season opener on Sunday, with the top three from each elimination, and one fourth-place finisher selected by random draw, returning to the Campbellville oval on Sunday, July 22 for the first $130,000 Gold Final of their careers.

Post time for Sunday’s program is 7:20 pm, and the two-year-old pacing colts will flex their burgeoning muscles in front of the Mohawk Racetrack grandstand in Races 3, 6 and 7.

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