REXDALE, ON — On Monday night the cream of the three-year-old trotting colt crop will return to Woodbine Racetrack for their $130,000 Gold Final, treating fans to a battle that proves once again Ontario-bred trotters are among the best in the world.

Raising the level of excitement for the $130,000 contest is the fact that the four colts considered among the best in North America will line up at Posts 1, 2, 3, and 4. Living Image gets Post 1, Breeders Crown champion Duke Of York will start from Post 2, elimination winner Abbey Road C will look for win number two from Post 3 and the other elimination winner Balagar gets Post 4.

“Whoever gets the best trip and can kick home the fastest, around about :28.2, is going to be a winner,” predicts Rick Zeron, who trains and drives Balagar. “Duke Of York has his first start behind his belt, the Image horse of Ron Gurfein’s has the rail and that colt of Keith Jones’ is beside me.”

Balagar heads into Monday’s Gold Final with much less racing experience than the other top colts, but Zeron feels last week’s win indicates the level of confidence the Balanced Image son has obtained since his May 7 debut.

“He’s got a couple of races under his belt now and he’s more secure in himself, more confident,” explains the Oakville resident, who trains Balagar for Dream With Me Stable of Caledon East and Gaetan Bono of Laval, QC. “He’s got a good shot if he can behave himself. He’s a Balanced Image so he can be a little warm, but if he behaves himself then we are half way home.

“I’ll tell you, for a trotter not to race at two is sometimes a great benefit to them because their bones get a chance to mature, they get to grow into themselves and get strong. That’s important because all their power comes from behind,” he adds.

Trainer John Bax is hoping that the extended winter break he afforded Breeders Crown juvenile champ Duke Of York will pay off in increased strength this Monday. The Balanced Image son finished third in his elimination to Balagar, leaving the Peterborough resident optimistic about the colt’s sophomore season.

“He raced real well for his first start back. He got a real good trip and he still trotted a mile in 1:56.3, which is probably one second faster than he’s ever trotter before,” says Bax, the winner of the O’Brien award for Canada’s top trainer in 2001. “Things look promising for him.”

Al Libfeld of Pickering, Marvin Katz of Toronto and Sam Goldband of Toronto own Duke Of York, who will be heading for what Bax calls the Holy Grail of trotting, the Hambletonian, if he delivers solid results on Monday and in the June Gold Series at Windsor Raceway.

Paul MacDonell will steer Duke Of York from Post 2 on Monday night and he will have his eye glued to Balagar and the colts on either side of him when the starting car rolls away from the field. Woodbine Racetrack’s first race goes postward at 7:40 pm and the talented sophomore trotting colts will raise the temperature in Race 4.