CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Rockwood resident Chris Beaver will start a trio of two-year-old trotting colts in Gold Elimination action at Mohawk Racetrack on Monday, Aug. 18, and the trainer is expecting all three to benefit from the sweeping turns at the Campbellville oval.

The freshman trotters made their Ontario Sires Stakes debut over Kawartha Downs’s five-eighths mile oval and then shifted to Grand River Raceway’s half-mile surface for their second event. Beaver raced two of his charges in both contests, with Mr Escadar enjoying the most success. The Mr Lavec son heads into Monday’s contest off a third-place finish in the Aug. 4 Gold Final.

“Mr Escadar has been a really nice horse. I think he’s the best one right now,” says Beaver, who trains the colt for breeder Hubert Wick of Warsaw, NY. “He should be at his best at Mohawk. He likes the big track, he has a lot of speed, and he’s very good gaited.”

The colt hopped off-stride around the last turn in the July 15 season opener and finished fourth, then came back with a solid effort to finish second in the Gold Consolation won by Hitithard in a track record 1:57.1. In his Gold Elimination at Grand River Raceway, Mr Escadar finished second, and then closed well to earn the third-place share in the $120,000 Final. Bill O’Donnell picked up the catch drive on the colt when Beaver’s regular driver Luc Ouellette was injured in the second week of July, and Beaver says the Acton resident has played a central role in the trotter’s solid progress.

“He’s got along good with the horse,” notes Beaver. “I think he did a real good job on the turns with him at Grand River, because the horse isn’t real safe on the turns yet.”

While Mr Escadar is the proven leader among Beaver’s freshman trotting colt contingent, the horseman thinks Hour Lavec may be ready to challenge for top spot once he has a few more starts under his belt. Another son of Mr Lavec, Hour Lavec arrived in Beaver’s barn at the start of the month after learning his early lessons from Indianapolis, IN resident Bob Brower.

Beaver qualified the colt at Mohawk on Aug. 4 and was impressed with the horse’s power, but felt a few shoeing changes would bring him more stability. A second qualifier on Aug. 11 saw Hour Lavec roll to a 2:00.2 win, with a last quarter in :28.4, and Beaver is looking forward to seeing how he stacks up against Ontario’s best.

“He acts like he’s going to be a nice horse,” says the Ohio native. “I changed his shoeing a little bit, but more than that, I think he’s just starting to wake up, the way they do after a few starts. His last qualifier I was real impressed.”

Recovered from the fractured arm he sustained on July 11, Campbellville resident Luc Ouellette will step into the race bike behind Hour Lavec on Monday for owner-breeders D M Stables LLC of Naples, FL and William Rufenacht of Archbold, OH.

Rounding out Beaver’s two-year-old trotting colt entry is Maestro Springs, who has struggled with breaks through the first two Gold Series events. A break at the three-quarters saw the son of Striking Sahbra and $364,123 winner Spring Melody finish eighth in his elimination at Kawartha Downs, and a miscue behind the gate left him in fifth spot in the Grand River elimination round. In spite of another early break, Maestro Springs managed to finish fourth in the Aug. 4 Gold Consolation, but he was forced to requalify.

The colt heads into Monday’s event off a win in qualifying action at Mohawk on Aug. 8, a steady 2:03.1 effort over a sloppy track rated two seconds slower than normal.

“He’s a bit screwy. He sees things on the track,” explains Beaver, who also drives the unpredictable youngster. “He was always kind of that way in the barn, he would shy at things, but I never noticed it on the track before March.”

Beaver shares ownership on Maestro Springs with breeder Richard Beinhauer of Venetia, PA, and the partners are hoping the colt can lay down a solid line on Monday.

“He struggles a little bit in the turns too, so the best place for him is Mohawk. I trained him there all winter,” says Beaver. “He hasn’t made any breaks there in qualifiers, and I’ve qualified him four times.”

Hour Lavec will bat lead off for Beaver’s freshman trotting colt team on Monday, stepping up to the plate from Post 7 in the first race, Maestro Springs will make his bid for a flawless line from Post 3 in the third race, and the steady Mr Escadar gets Post 6 in Race 5.

The top three finishers from each $40,000 Gold Elimination, plus one fourth-place finisher selected by random draw, will return to Mohawk Racetrack for the third $120,000 Gold Final on the freshman trotting colt schedule.

The colts will raise the curtain on Mohawk’s Monday evening program at 7:20 pm, and also compete in Races 3 and 5.

For complete entries please go to: http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/emohsmo.html.