GLOUCESTER, ON — When Raw Energy arrived at his Florida barn last fall, trainer James Dean liked the colt but he never expected to be among the favourites for the two-year-old pacing colt Gold Eliminations that Rideau Carleton Raceway will host on Sunday, July 16.

“Last fall Chris (Christoforou, Sr.) asked me if I’d take a horse, or horses, with me to Florida,” recalls Dean. “I only had eight stalls and I got seven from the Horner’s so I called Chris up and said, �If you want to send one down I’ve got a stall.’ He said, �Don’t give it away, I’ll send you something,’ but he didn’t tell me what he was sending.

“So the horse arrived and the first day I hooked him up all he did was trot, and he trotted beautifully, so I thought he was (by trotting sire) Earl. Three or four days later Chris called down and I had to ask him what the horse was and he said, �He’s an Astreos.’ I said, �Well, I guess we better put some hopples on him,'” adds Dean with a chuckle.

His brief career as a trotter over, Raw Energy began his lessons in earnest and Dean says the colt was always an able student.

“He didn’t do anything real special, but he didn’t do anything wrong either. Every time you asked him to step it up he did,” says the horseman. “He wasn’t a very tough one to train. He’s just kind of a laid back fellow.”

When Dean returned from Florida, Raw Energy continued to make steady progress and went behind the gate to qualify for the first time on June 10 at Mohawk Racetrack. Unfortunately, the colt ran into an equipment glitch that prevented him from delivering the kind of mile Campbellville residents Dean and owner-breeder Chris Christoforou, Sr. were expecting.

“The centre hopple hanger wrapped around the shaft of the race bike. When he came off the track the hopple was right up at the top of his front leg,” explains Dean. “So that was not his fault.”

The son of Astreos and F Fifteen bounced back the next week to post a 1:59.2 win in a two-year-old qualifier, but rather than sending him up to Georgian Downs for the Gold Series season opener, Dean and Christoforou opted to race him in an overnight event at Mohawk on June 25. Raw Energy and driver Jack Moiseyev sat off the pace for most of the mile and then shot home in :26.3 to finish fourth.

Making his Gold Series debut in elimination action at Mohawk Racetrack on July 2, Raw Energy finished second, closing from eighth with a :27.3 last quarter. Then, in the July 9 Gold Final, Chris Christoforou, Jr. gave the colt a masterful drive to land him in the winner’s circle by a head in 1:54.2.

“I think he’s progressed real nice,” says Dean. “He’s picking it up; every start he’s getting better.

“He’s a fairly big horse, he wears a 60 1/2 inch hopple. He’s a clean going horse, he doesn’t wear a boot, no poles, he drives perfect and he’s very well mannered.”

Raw Energy and Christoforou, Jr. will defend their Gold Final crown from Post 4 in the talent laden ninth race at Rideau Carleton Raceway on Sunday. Among the gifted rivals they will face are former Gold Elimination winners Canyoukeepasecret, Goose Creek, Twin B Survivor and Twin B Impact from Posts 1, 5 , 7 and 8.

Only 15 colts will go postward at Rideau Carleton Raceway on Sunday, July 16. The first $54,213 Gold Elimination is slated as Race 7 on the 6:30 pm program and the second goes postward as Race 9. The top four finishers, and one fifth-place finisher selected by random draw, will return to the Ottawa oval on Sunday, July 23 for the third of six $130,000 Gold Finals on their freshman calendar.

For complete entries please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/eridcfsu.html