GLOUCESTER, ON — When Mark Steacy rolls into Rideau Carleton Raceway on Sunday night, the Lansdowne resident will be hoping two-year-old trotting colts Majestic Son and Mozart can break a streak of bad luck that has plagued him at the Ottawa oval.

“I think it is the only track in all of Ontario that I’ve never won a stakes race at,” says the veteran horseman. “It’s been my jinx track.”

Steacy will send the young trotters out in Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Elimination action on Sunday, and the trainer was not feeling optimistic about a change in his luck after reigning Gold Final champion Majestic Son drew Post 7 in the first race and two-time Grassroots winner Mozart drew Post 8 in Race 6.

“I don’t think he’s a fast leaving horse anyway,” says Steacy of Majestic Son’s draw. “He can float out of there and come first up or something.

“But I was hoping for something better than the eight (for Mozart),” he adds. “He probably needed something better.”

After his impressive efforts at Grand River Raceway in the last Gold Series, Majestic Son should be among the favourites in Race 1 in spite of his outside post. The colt captured his elimination by six lengths in 2:04 and then set a track record with his come from behind 2:01.1 victory in the Final.

“I wasn’t sure about the turns, about how he was going to go around the half-mile track, but I knew he had as much speed as the rest of them,” says Steacy. “If he’s healthy and everything is right, he’s got a good engine in him.”

A $33,000 purchase from last fall’s Forest City Yearling Sale, Majestic Son is owned by David Reid of Glenburnie, David McDonald of Cornwall, A K Malik Stable of Ottawa and Malcolm Man Son Hing. The partners have banked $83,819 on the Angus Hall son’s behalf through three starts this season, with the only blemish on his record coming in the Gold Series season opener at Georgian Downs where he made an inexplicable break trotting past the leaders at the three-quarter mark.

“He was going to win the race, I had tons of horse left, but unfortunately he just took a bad step. I don’t know why,” recalls Steacy. “He was just getting ready to go by the first place horse at the time. It was costly.”

After his solid performance at Grand River, Steacy hopes that early mistake will be the only blip on Majestic Son’s record for the remainder of the Gold season.

Through three Grassroots starts and a pair of overnights, stablemate Mozart has been flawless this season and Steacy expects another solid effort from the colt Sunday.

“He’s got 125 points, which is probably going to get him into the (Grassroots) Semifinal so I thought he could skip one and take a shot at the Gold,” explains Steacy. “He’s a nice little colt. He’s not as big and powerful as the other one, but he’s a nice horse. One thing about him, he wants to trot.”

Steacy, Reid, McDonald and Hing acquired the Yankee Paco son for $15,500 at the 2004 Canadian Classic Yearling Sale and have seen a return on their investment of $20,858 through the colt’s first five starts. While Steacy thinks Mozart could add to that on Sunday, he does not expect the Gold Series promotion to be a permanent one.

“I think he can get cheques at the Gold level, but I think he can get bigger cheques at the Grassroots level,” says the trainer. “He’s pretty good on a small track.”

Two other Grassroots colts will make the leap up to the Gold Series in Race 6, Extreme Games from Post 1 and Was It A Dream from Post 7, but Mozart’s primary competition is expected to come from former Gold Elimination winner Yorktown Gunner from Post 3.

Racing gets under way at 6:30 pm on Sunday evenings at Rideau Carleton Raceway and the two-year-old trotting colts will light things up in Races 1, 4, and 6. The top three colts from each Gold Elimination will return to the Ottawa oval for their third $130,000 Gold Final next Sunday. Aug. 28.

For a complete list of entries please go to:

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