DUNDAS, ON — With two of three Gold Final winners missing, the three-year-old trotting colt division remains wide open as the colts head to Flamboro Downs for their fourth Gold Series Eliminations Saturday.
Among the young trotters hoping to make strides up the division standings are a pair owned and trained by Harald Lunde. Rotation will face off against the event’s only Gold Final winner, Living Image, in Race 2 while Cyclone Artie makes his bid for a share of the $96,100 purse in Race 6.
Rotation and driver Trevor Ritchie will start from Post 5 in the five-horse second race and Lunde hopes the duo can translate a two-race win streak at Woodbine Racetrack on to Flamboro’s half-mile oval.
“He is in with some good horses, like Living Image, but he is not so bad either,” says the Campbellville resident. “And he is better with every start.”
Saturday’s elimination will be Rotation’s first outing over a half-mile track, but Lunde thinks the Balanced Image son is up the challenge at this stage in his career.
“I’m not sure, but I think he can handle it,” says Lunde, who trained 2000 freshman Breeders Crown winner Banker Hall. “Two months ago he would not have been able to handle it, but now I think he can.
“I’ll maybe use a head pole on both sides, but I’m not sure yet. I’ll try it before the race,” he adds.
The colt’s stablemate, Cyclone Artie, raced at Flamboro Downs last season and Lunde says the big horse had no problems on the half-mile oval. However, his problem this season has been a series of baffling breaks which knocked him out of contention in the last Gold Final and in his most recent outing on Aug. 1 at Woodbine.
“I had a good feeling for him (Aug. 1), but he made a break close to the finish and that surprised me a little bit,” say Lunde. “I didn’t know why he made a break, he had never made a break like that at the end of the race. I hope he can stay trotting Saturday.”
Another son of Balanced Image, Cyclone Artie will start from Post 6 in a six-horse field and Lunde hopes Chris Christoforou will drive the colt to victory the way he did July 18 at Woodbine.
Cyclone Artie will face Abbey Road C from Post 2 in the sixth race and all eyes will be on the Incredible Abe colt, who has been devastating track records across the province since trainer-driver Keith Jones added trotting hopples to his equipment bag on July 6. The colt raised the roof at Georgian Downs on July 16 with his 15 length 1:56.3 victory and then destroyed the Hanover Raceway track record with a 1:57 triumph in eliminations of the Dream Of Glory Trot on July 27. One week later the colt stopped the clock in 1:57.3 over Hanover’s half-mile oval in the Dream Of Glory Final and extended his win margin by one length to 12 and a half.
Owned by George Charlton of Utopia, Abbey Road C won a June 3 Gold Elimination at Woodbine Racetrack in impressive fashion but has made breaks in every other OSS start this season. He will be looking to change that practice and pick up a fourth straight win on Saturday.
Only three colts will be eliminated on Saturday, with the top four from each division progressing to the Aug. 17 Gold Series Final. Flamboro Downs sends its first race into the starter’s hands at 3 pm on Saturday, with the sophomore trotting colts waging battle in Races 2 and 6.