GLOUCESTER, ON — Rideau Carleton Raceway kicks off an outstanding four weeks of Ontario Sires Stakes action this Sunday when 16 talented three-year-old trotting colts arrive in Ottawa for a pair of $52,961 Gold Series Eliminations.

Leading the charge into the nation’s capital is reigning Gold Final winner King La Conch, who will make his bid for a third straight victory from Post 3 in the first elimination. Among the colts who would like a shot at unseating the current King is Stormont Welldone, who will be looking to advance to next week’s Gold Final from Post 4 in the second elimination.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed for Sunday night,” says Long Sault resident Eric Baker, who bred and owns the colt in cooperation with his partners in Stormont Meadows. “I haven’t seen him in a while, haven’t been there as often as I should.”

Rockwood resident Norm Jones trains Stormont Welldone for Baker, and the colt has been racing in the Toronto area since making his sophomore debut in late April. A Grassroots winner at two, the Balanced Image son seems to have made a successful transition to the upper ranks of the Ontario Sires Stakes program, finishing third in his elimination and fifth in the last Gold Final, and Baker is hoping there is more to come.

“He’s beginning to mature into himself, so we’re hoping as the season progresses we’ll have a strong horse,” says the longtime owner. “He’s got a lot of speed — the question is does he carry it the whole mile — but he can go fast quarters.”

Baker, who has bred and owned such standout performers as $912,938 winner Lord Stormont, $415,061 winner Earl Of Stormont and $259,800 winner Stormont Bronze, is also looking further afield than Stormont Welldone’s sophomore campaign.

�That’s one issue we talk about all the time, how hard do you race them at three?” says Baker. “I want the next Goodtimes. If you get a nice invitational level trotter, that’s when you can make your farm.”

Also a son of Balanced Image, the legendary Goodtimes earned more than $2.2 million through a 10 year career that saw him hit his peak well after his Ontario Sires Stakes days were over.

Baker and Jones were hoping to race Stormont Welldone in the race named after Goodtimes at Woodbine Racetrack, but the chestnut colt came up sick just before the June 11 eliminations and the pair opted to take him out of the race.

“It was disappointing when the horse came up sick, but I’m used to it believe it or not. I don’t like it, but I’m used to it,” says Baker with a chuckle. “And we were lucky, we spotted it early and didn’t race him. When you race them when they are sick it takes a long time for them to recover.”

Stormont Welldone bounced back to earn the third-place finish in the June 24 Gold Eliminations at Mohawk Racetrack and Baker is hoping the young trotter can equal or improve on that effort at Rideau Carleton Raceway on Sunday.

The first race at the Gloucester oval goes postward at 6:30 pm and Stormont Welldone and his peers will fire up the Rideau Carleton crowd in Races 6 and 8.

The top four finishers from each elimination, plus one fifth-place finisher selected by random draw, will return to Rideau Carleton Raceway on Sunday, July 17 for the third $130,000 Gold Final of their season. Also on the July 17 program are the exciting two-year-old pacing fillies, making just their second start in Gold Series Elimination action.

For a complete list of Sunday’s entries please go to:

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