ELMIRA, ON — If trainer Paul Shakes had one wish heading into Monday afternoon’s two-year-old trotting colt Gold Final at Elmira Raceway it would be for a weather forecast with a mix of sun and cloud and no humidity.
Neither he nor the seven other competitors want to see a repeat of the driving rain that fell during the elimination round on July 29, but he is also concerned that extreme heat and humidity could have a negative impact on the young trotters, most of whom are making just their third or fourth lifetime start.
“Usually when you are racing the sun has gone down and maybe it is hot, but you don’t get that extreme heat,” says Shakes. “The sun is really the killer — especially if we happen to get a real humid day like we’ve had — for a young horse experiencing it for the first time.”
Shakes’ colt Meadowview Sunny heads into the $130,000 contest as one of the favourites, but he and driver Doug Brown will have to overcome the outside Post 7 to execute a repeat of their track record setting victory in the season opening Gold Final at Kawartha Downs.
“Any time he has left the gate he has been all business, he has struck out of there quite nicely,” says Shakes, who trains the Classic Adam son for owner-breeder Charles Reid of Orono. “But that’s a pretty tight turn at Elmira for two-year-olds to be going around, and there will be a big crowd there on Monday.”
The Gold Final is the eighth race on Elmira Raceway’s popular Industry Day, which also features the $200,000 Battle of Waterloo for Ontario-sired two-year-old pacers, and Shakes has witnessed the crowd size in past years as a spectator. This will be the first time he and Reid have raced a horse in one of the featured races and the partners are thoroughly enjoying the experience.
“We’ve waited to have one like this for a long time,” says Shakes. “Now it’s just a matter of keeping him fresh for the rest of the season.
“I trained him a wee bit this morning and everything went well. Now we’re just waiting for Monday.”
With Meadowview Sunny starting from Post 7 the other seven colts in the Gold Final are also looking forward to Monday, hoping for an opportunity to inscribe their own names in the Ontario Sires Stakes history books.
The other elimination winner Sno Goal will start from the advantageous Post 1 and At A Boy Eric, who finished second to Meadowview Sunny in last week’s elimination round, gets Post 5.
Breeder Barry Hearn shares ownership on At A Boy Eric with trainer Bill Wellwood of Cambridge and the St. Pauls Station resident hopes he will have good news to report to his grandsons when they call Monday night for the results.
“I have two grandsons and I called the last colt At A Boy Adam so I had no choice but to call this one At A Boy Eric,” says Hearn with a chuckle. “They were in Elmira the other day but they are on holiday in the States with their mom and dad this week so they won’t be there.”
While Hearn’s grandsons will miss the Industry Day festivities thousands of other people are expected to flock to Elmira for the outstanding harness racing program and a host of other fun-filled events, including a silent auction of art created by some of Ontario’s most famous Standardbreds, activities for the children and an opportunity to have your picture taken with an equine celebrity.
All the Industry Day excitement gets under way at 1 pm with the $130,000 Gold Final going postward as the eighth race and the $200,000 Battle of Waterloo slated as Race 11.