GLOUCESTER, ON — Ontario’s talented three-year-old trotting colts head to Rideau Carleton Raceway on Thursday for the last Gold Series Eliminations of their careers.
Hambletonian winner Amigo Hall, making his first Ontario Sires Stakes appearance since his historic victory in August, headlines the first elimination, while division leader JM Vangogh will be looking to complete his season with an unblemished elimination record in Race 8.
Hall of Fame horseman Ron Waples trains and drives JM Vangogh and the Guelph resident says the Earl colt is fit as a fiddle heading into the season’s homestretch.
“He’s feeling good, jogging good, sound and happy,” says Waples. “He stays pretty good. He can miss two or three weeks and I’ll maybe train him one fast mile and that’s it. He’s just one of those easy keepers, it takes the guess work out of it for you.”
JM Vangogh will try to score his fifth elimination win in five efforts from Post 2 in Thursday’s eighth race and Waples was pleased to see many of the other division heavyweights draw into the first elimination.
“It looks like some of the good ones drew in the other division,” he notes. “There are some nice three-year-old trotters out there this year. I guess we’ll get to see how we fare against the Hambletonian winner next week, although I think we’ve beat him more than he’s beat us so far this year.”
Waples says he will head to Ottawa early Thursday morning with JM Vangogh, allow the colt to rest through the day before the race and then set off for home as soon as he has cooled out Thursday evening.
“We’ll probably leave around 4:30 or 5:00 Thursday morning to try and get through Toronto before the rest of the traffic. He’ll rest all day, race, then we’ll cool him out good and bring him home that night,” he says. “It’s a long day for him, but he’s got all week to get over it, and he’s a good shipper.”
The journey may be toughest on Waples and several of his peers who race in Windsor Wednesday night and then have to head for Ottawa after the equivalent of a catnap.
“By the time we get home from Windsor it will pretty near be time to load up and go to Ottawa,” Waples says. “We’ll try to sleep as much as we can Thursday through the day.”
The horseman will have to return to Rideau Carleton Raceway in time for Races 6 and 8 on the 6:30 pm program, where they will need a top four finish to secure a berth in the Oct. 23 Gold Final. One fifth-place finisher, selected by random draw, will also advance to the $130,000 Final next Thursday.