REXDALE, ON — Majestic Son will be hampered by the outside Post 10 in Friday night’s $130,000 Gold Final at Woodbine Racetrack, but trainer Mark Steacy hopes a recent change in footwear will help the two-year-old trotting colt overcome the handicap.

“We were able to go back to his regular shoes, steel shoes, for last week and he was 100 per cent,” says Steacy. “When Rick (Zeron) came off the track he said it was just day and night. He was safe the whole mile.”

Steacy had switched Majestic Son from steel shoes to glue-on shoes in an effort to grow the colt’s feet out, but the trade off was that the Angus Hall son made critical breaks in his last three stakes engagements.

“On trotters, sometimes every bit of weight makes a difference,” says the Lansdowne resident, who trains Majestic Son for David Reid of Glenburnie, David McDonald of Cornwall, A K Malik Stable of Ottawa and Dr. Malcolm Man Son Hing of Nepean. “He would fall a little bit apart at the end of the mile, when he got tired.”

Heading into last Friday’s Gold Elimination at the Rexdale oval, Steacy felt the colt’s feet had gained enough length to return to traditional steel shoes and nails. Majestic Son responded with an impressive 1:58.4 victory that saw him clock a :28.3 last quarter, faster than he had trotted any mile or last quarter since capturing a division of the Champlain Stakes at Mohawk Racetrack on Sept. 5.

“He was really good last week,” notes the trainer. “He’s always been so good. If it wasn’t for the odd problem with breaks he’d probably have another $200,000 on his card. He can carry his speed a long way.”

Majestic Son made his racing debut in the Gold Series season opener at Georgian Downs, where he recovered from a break at the three-quarters to finish fifth. He then swept his elimination and the Final of the Gold event at Grand River Raceway in late July and was second in both the elimination and Final at Rideau Carleton Raceway in August.

One week later Majestic Son established himself as one of the top young trotters in North American with his 1:55.4 Champlain victory, but that effort marked the end of the colt’s hot streak as he made breaks in the Sept. 12 William Wellwood eliminations and the Sept. 29 Gold Eliminations at Mohawk.

The trotter’s next outing was a lacklustre qualifier at Mohawk on Oct. 4 and then he was back in against North America’s best in the Oct. 15 Valley Victory Eliminations where driver Rick Zeron managed to hold everything together to earn a third-place cheque and a berth in the $555,485 final on Oct. 22. Things did not go so well in the Final as Majestic Son went off stride at the top of the stretch, but fortunately he and eventual winner R C Royalty were so far ahead of the competition there was no chance of interference and he was awarded the runner-up spot.

With just Friday’s Final and the Nov. 12 Super Final remaining on Majestic Son’s calendar, Steacy is hoping the colt can maintain his current footwear, and form, for two more starts.

“Hopefully that is the way he can go for the next two starts,” says the horseman. “If he doesn’t make a break, I think he’s the fastest horse in there.”

Majestic Son and his peers will battle for the last Gold Final trophy of their freshman season in Race 4 on Woodbine Racetrack’s Friday evening program, which gets under way at 7:40 pm.

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http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/ewdbsfr.html#N4