Stonebridge Tonic heads into Friday's Gold Eliminations at Western Fair Raceway with a rather unique race record - through 10 starts the two-year-old pacing colt has banked an impressive $129,019

while failing to find his way to the winner's circle.

The son of Camluck and 100 per cent producer Glacial Express has only missed two cheques through his freshman campaign, but his failure to log a win has been a source of mild frustration for breeders Dr. Cal and Angie Stiller of Arva and their partners Artana Stables of St. Thomas, trainer Gregg McNair of Guelph and Leonard Gamble of Etobicoke.

"He really looked promising at the beginning of the year. Actually, he was Gregg McNair's pick of the crop," recalls Dr. Cal Stiller. "He has just failed to ring the bell."

After a pair of qualifiers in June, Stonebridge Tonic made his debut in a July 5 division of the Bud Light Stakes at Flamboro Downs, where he made an early break and finished fifth. In the Gold Series season opener at Mohawk Racetrack on July 12, he finished eighth in his elimination and failed to advance to the final.

A runner-up finish in his July 27 Battle Of Waterloo Elimination buoyed the hopes of his owners, and a second runner-up finish in the August 2 final kept their hopes aloft, as did a second-place effort in the August 9 Gold Elimination at Flamboro Downs. Stonebridge Tonic then followed up his trio of seconds with a fifth in the August 16 Gold Final, and looked solid in a third-place effort in overnight action at Mohawk Racetrack on August 30.

Back at Mohawk for a division of the Champlain Stakes on September 12, Stonebridge Tonic finished seventh, then the colt shipped to Rideau Carleton for his third Gold Series test and finished second in his Sept. 20 elimination and fourth in the September 27 Gold Final.

Hampering the young pacer's quest for a win has been a throat infection that Stiller likens to a severe, recurring case of tonsillitis in a child.

"Whereas in humans the tonsils are located on either side of the throat, in horses it isn't that way. Their lymph glands are spread right around the oropharynx," explains Stiller, one of Canada's leading physicians, scientists and entrepreneurs. "They get these pimples, like little boils, that are painful, hurt their breathing, and they are sick with it."

Over the course of the season McNair treated Stonebridge Tonic's throat infection on three different occasions, but Stiller says it has only been recently that the pacer seems to have shaken off the illness and regained his health.

"He is completely clear of that now," says the owner. "I sure don't want to jinx him, but my hope is that London will see the real Stonebridge Tonic."

Working in Stonebridge Tonic's favour this Friday is his post position - he will start from the advantageous Post 1 in the first $40,000 Gold Elimination - but he also faces reigning Gold Final champion Haul Away from Post 3 and former Gold Final champion Grin For Money from Post 2.

"Those two horses outside of him are really tigers," admits Stiller.

Young reinsman Doug McNair, who is having an impressive year on the Ontario Sires Stakes circuit, currently ranked sixth in the driver standings, will steer Stonebridge Tonic on Friday. The pair will need a top four finish to advance to the Nov. 7 Gold Final. With two opportunities remaining to pad his point tally, Stonebridge Tonic currently sits eighth in the race for one of 10 berths in the $300,000 season ending Super Final.

"I am excited about Friday," admits Stiller. "We'll be there with Angie cheering, as she usually does, at the top of her voice."

Post time for Western Fair Raceway's Friday evening program is 7:05 p.m., with the province's gifted two-year-old pacing colts squaring off in Races 3 and 10. The program also features the second leg of the Middlesex Trotting Series for colts and geldings and the Middlesex Pacing Series for fillies and mares.

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To view Friday’s harness racing entries, click here.