CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — Ontario’s top three-year-old trotting colts will help Mohawk Racetrack fans celebrate Canada Day on Friday as they compete in their second $130,000 Gold Final.
After scoring upset victories in last week’s elimination round, Reserved Image and King La Conch will be looking to confirm their heavyweight status from Posts 1 and 3. Trainer Rocco Auciello will harness Reserved Image, and the Stouffville resident is hoping the Balanced Image gelding can continue the momentum he has built up since returning to the races from a soft palate operation early this season.
“We raced him twice last year, but he was such a big individual that we decided to geld him and turn him out,” says Auciello. “When we brought him back this year he seemed to be sluggish so we did an operation on his soft palate and he seems to be getting stronger every start.”
Auciello, who trains the colt for breeders Robert and Donna Burgess of Cedar Valley, had good reason to persevere with the young trotter. His mother, Kawartha An Worthy, was an exceptional race mare who earned $156,084 and trotted around Woodbine in 1:55 nine years ago, and his full brothers A Fine Balance and Coldspot banked $133,275 and $362,497 respectively.
“He’s a big individual and he’s out of a good mare so I wasn’t giving up on him. I knew eventually he would come around,” says the veteran horseman. “After a disastrous two-year-old year you back off on the stake payments, and it looked like the right move after his first few starts, but he seems to be coming around. If he does well in the Ontario Sires Stakes we’ll be tickled pink.”
Reserved Image heads into Friday’s $130,000 battle with a record of two wins, four seconds and two thirds in 13 starts, with his fastest mile coming in last week’s elimination. In rein to regular driver Kelvin Rose, the young trotter led through all stations, easily disposing of two challenges from runner-up Brancaleone and hitting the wire one quarter length on top in a personal best 1:57.
“It will be a lot tougher in the Final,” says Auciello. “The other division went a little faster, but if he improves hopefully we’ll get a big chunk of it.”
King La Conch scored a 1:55.2 victory in the other elimination with an impressive come-from-behind effort that saw him sprint through the last quarter in :27.2, more than one second faster than any of the other competitors in Friday’s contest.
Trained by Campbellville resident Joe Stutzman for breeder Robert Key of Leechburg, PA, King La Conch has had his own mountain to climb this season, making breaks in five of eight starts. The King Conch colt returns to Post 3 for the second week and Stutzman and Key will be hoping driver Chris Christoforou can coax another flawless effort out of the fractious youngster.
Mohawk Racetrack sends its first race onto the track at 7:20 pm Friday, with the three-year-old trotting colts locking horns in Race 5 for their $130,000 Canada Day showdown.
For a complete list of Friday’s entries go to:
http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/emohsfr.html