ELORA, ON — Arthur, ON resident Wayne Henry hustled two-year-old trotting colt Major Herbie down the stretch to eke out a victory in the first of three $40,000 Gold Eliminations at Grand River Raceway on Wednesday evening.
Starting from Post 3 in the nine horse field, Henry settled his young charge into third through the early going, sitting behind pacesetter Idle Time and fan favourite Don Pietro. As Idle Time led the field through fractions of :29.2, 1:00.3 and 1:29.4 Major Herbie was hemmed in on the rail by colts heading up the outside, but Henry sat patiently, waiting for opportunity to strike.
Heading around the final turn two colts to his right went off stride and Henry was able to carve a path down the stretch that led Major Herbie to the wire for a neck victory over Idle Time in 2:01.2. Random Holdup crossed the wire third, but was off stride and placed back to fifth, moving Don Pietro up into the third-place finisher’s spot from fourth.
Henry shares ownership on Major Herbie with his brother Trevor Henry, his partner in Henry Stable of Arthur, ON, and Daniel McCann of Parkhill, ON. Wednesday’s outing was the colt’s second, he made his debut in a division of the Grassroots Series at Hiawatha Horse Park on July 15 where he finished fifth over a rain-soaked racetrack rated two seconds slower than normal. The son of Here Comes Herbie and Independent Dame was a $20,000 acquisition from the Canadian Open Yearling Sale last fall. Independent Dame raced out of the Henry barn in 2000 and 2001, and was a Gold Final winner as a two-year-old, and both a Gold Elimination and Grassroots division winner at three, on her way to earnings of $231,359.
Plato scored his second straight Gold Elimination win in Race 5, clocking the quickest mile of the three eliminations. With trotting specialist Trevor Ritchie of Acton, ON in the race bike, Plato accelerated away from Post 7 and dropped into third spot as Tymal Lennon led the field to a :30.1 opening quarter. Heading for the 1:00.3 half Ritchie sent Plato to the front and the colt maintained the lead through the 1:30.4 while fending off a challenge from Sim Brown.
Sim Brown and driver Jody Jamieson did their best to reel in Plato and Ritchie through the stretch, but Plato prevailed by a neck in 1:59.1, just one-fifth of a second shy of the two-year-old trotting colt track record. Tymal Lennon finished well back in third, seven lengths behind the dueling leaders and five ahead of the remainder of the field.
Trainer Gregory Johnson and George Johnson, both of Milton, ON, share ownership of Plato, a son of Andover Image and Pom Derable. The colt captured his July 12 Gold Elimination at Mohawk Racetrack with a come from behind effort in 1:58, then logged a fourth-place effort from the outside Post 10 in the July 19 Gold Final and has banked $50,400 in just three starts.
The final elimination saw reigning Gold Final champion Buckhams Bay deliver a dominant gate to wire performance, coasting under the wire two and a half lengths on top in 2:02. Whatabout Tom wrapped up the second-place finisher’s cheque with a pocket ride behind the heavy favourite, while Daylon Magician trotted strongly down the stretch to be third.
Jacques Hebert drives the impeccably bred Buckhams Bay for trainer-owner-breeder John Smith of Woodlawn, ON. Through three starts the Ken Warkentin half-brother to $1.1 million winner Mc Cooeye and $337,914 winner Merles Pearl has posted three wins and earned $105,000.
Buckhams Bay will make his bid for a fourth straight victory from Post 6 in next Wednesday’s $130,000 Gold Final at Grand River Raceway. The top three finishers from each elimination will return to the Elora oval for the second Gold Final on their calendar, with the field shaping up as follows:
$130,000 2-YEAR-OLD COLT TROT GOLD FINAL
Post 1 Don Pietro
Post 2 Major Herbie
Post 3 Plato
Post 4 Idle Time
Post 5 Whatabout Tom
Post 6 Buckhams Bay
Post 7 Tymal Lennon
Post 8 Sim Brown
Post 9 Daylon Magician
For complete results please go to: http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/racing/results/data/r0728grvrn.dat.