CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Mohawk Racetrack features an impressive line-up of Ontario-sired talent on Monday evening with a $130,000 Gold Final for the two-year-old pacing colts and a pair of Gold Series Eliminations for the three-year-old trotting colts.
Trainer Duane Marfisi will harness a pair of pacers in the Gold Final, sending the gifted Grin Tin Tin into battle from Post 1 and reigning Gold Final champion Sauble Jackson to the start from Post 10.
George Brennan will steer Grin Tin Tin after a fifth straight victory on behalf of owners David Scharf of New York, NY, Thomas Kaufman of Scarsdale, NY and Steven Arnold of Purchase, NY. Through 10 starts the Grinfromeartoear son has posted five wins and one second for earnings of $194,025 and has been on a roll since capturing the Aug. 30 Metro Pace Consolation at Woodbine Racetrack.
Grin Tin Tin sailed to an easy 1:56.4 elimination victory last week over Our Lucky Killean and Im A Lucky Cam, while Sauble Jackson settled for a runner-up finish after suffering interference at the three-quarter pole. Regular driver Steve Byron will be back in the race bike behind Sauble Jackson for Sauble Hill Farms of Tara.
Trying to prevent Marfisi from scooping up the lion’s share of the $130,000 purse are eight other talented young pacers and trainer Bob McIntosh is hoping Im A Lucky Cam can be among the spoilers.
“We took a conservative approach with him and brought him along slow in the Grassroots,” explains the La Salle resident. “But from what I saw the other night he looks like he could be a legitimate Gold horse. I was really happy with the way he raced in the elimination.”
Owned by McIntosh and Al McIntosh Holdings Inc. of Leamington, Im A Lucky Cam has three wins, two of them in Grassroots action, and two thirds to his credit through six starts. His only off the board finish came in his July 17 debut at Flamboro Downs where he hit the wire in fourth. The Camluck son and driver Steve Condren will start from Post 8 on Monday and McIntosh thinks they could be a factor with an ounce of racing luck.
“If he gets some place forward in the mile and gets a decent trip I think he can go with that bunch,” says McIntosh, who led all trainers in the OSS program in 2001 and 2002.
Warming up the Mohawk crowd before the $130,000 Final are two Gold Eliminations for the three-year-old trotting colts and Rick Zeron is looking forward to getting back out on the seven-eighths mile oval where he and Kingdom earned $157,710 last Saturday with a third-place finish in the $1.1 million Canadian Trotting Classic.
“Kingdom is back to himself. He is back on track and I’m looking forward to a real good close to the year,” says the Oakville resident, who shares ownership on the King Conch colt with The Camel Club Stable of Hamilton and Gestion Charest Ltee of Montreal, QC. “I feel confident saying that he can trot in 1:55 or 1:54 and a piece for the rest of his starts. He is in good shape and has a good attitude.”
After a solid early season qualifier and a runner-up finish in the season opening Gold Elimination at Mohawk Racetrack on May 10, Kingdom made a break in the May 18 Final and did not return to the races until July 19. After posting respectable fourth and third-place finishes in the elimination (July 19) and final (July 26) of the Canadian Breeders Championship, the colt did not hit the top three again until the Canadian Trotting Classic Elimination on Sept. 13.
“He was getting pretty studdy on me so I got a little stricter with him,” says Zeron. “He was getting away with all his games, so I put a stop to that.”
The less flexible environment seemed to remind the colt of his primary job — as a racehorse rather than a stallion — and Zeron expects the improved performance to continue through the remainder of the Ontario Sires Stakes season.
The duo will start from Post 3 in the second race on Monday evening and Zeron will have his eye on two-time Gold Final champion J M Vangogh from Post 4.
Mohawk Racetrack’s Monday evening program gets under way at 7:40 pm with the three-year-old trotting colts warming things up in Races 2 and 4 for the two-year-old colt pace Gold Final in Race 6.
The top five finishers from each Gold Elimination will return to the Campbellville oval on Monday, Oct. 6 for the second last Gold Final of their careers.