Georgian Downs will be aglitter with Ontario-sired talent this Saturday, July 3 as the Innisfil, ON oval plays host to 10 Gold Series eliminations in advance of its annual Gold Rush extravaganza

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Among the 74 competitors preparing for Saturday’s showcase are two local trotting colts headed into the second Gold Series event of their season off impressive performances in the Goodtimes Stake at Mohawk Racetrack last weekend.

In spite of drawing his second straight Post 10 in a stake final, Windsun Galaxie closed like a rocket in the June 26 Goodtimes Final to earn the third-place finisher’s share of the $387,000 purse. Fourteen lengths off the pace at the half, the colt hit the wire just half a length behind winner Sing Jesse Sing in the 1:53.3 mile.

“At the half he was a long way back,” recalls Uxbridge, ON resident Harley Harkness, who bred and raised the colt at his Windsun Farm. “He sure made a heck of a stretch drive. In the stretch I was hoping we would get fifth, so he certainly made me happy.”

Harkness typically sells the horses he raises, but when bidding on Windsun Galaxie stalled at $12,000 during the 2008 Forest City Yearling Sale — held in the midst of the global economic meltdown — the breeder decided to retain the son of Kadabra and Imageofaclearnight.

“That was basically the cost of the stud fee, so I thought I couldn’t go wrong,” explains Harkness. “I did like him a lot, and… so far, so good.”

Harkness handed Windsun Galaxie over to Denfield, ON resident Chad Milner, who taught the youngster his early lessons. Windsun Galaxie made just two starts as a two-year-old, making breaks in both, before Harkness and Milner decided to shift their focus to his sophomore season.

“He was a very big colt — and he is bigger now. He’s 16.2 or 16.3 hands tall,” explains Harkness. “He just had to grow into himself, but we thought he had potential.”

Windsun Galaxie made his return to the racetrack in an April 12 qualifier at Mohawk Racetrack, where he cruised to a 1:59.3 victory. Seven days later the leggy trotter tried his hand against the non-winners of two races class at Woodbine Racetrack and logged a fourth-place result, just one and a half lengths behind the leaders in a 1:56.4 mile. The colt recorded his first win in the same class on May 3, circling the Woodbine oval in 1:57.1, and repeated the feat on May 17 in a snappy 1:55.4.

In his Ontario Sires Stakes debut, at Mohawk Racetrack on May 23, Windsun Galaxie finished second by a neck in his Gold Elimination, then landed Post 10 for the $130,000 Gold Final and finished fifth. A 1:56 win in overnight action at Mohawk Racetrack served as preparation for the Goodtimes Elimination, where the colt finished second by three-quarters of a length.

“He’s certainly started off fine for us,” says Harkness, adding that he looks no further ahead than the colt’s next race.

Experience has taught Harkness the painful lesson that looking too far ahead in the horse business can be fruitless. When Windsun Galaxie started to race well, the breeder hoped it would result in a strong yearling sale price for the colt’s Striking Sahbra half-sister Windsun Ashanti, but the filly recently injured herself and had to be withdrawn from the sale. A similar fate befell the colt’s elder sister Windsun Borgata, who is now part of the broodmare band at Harness’s farm.

With his present-minded philosophy firmly in place, Harkness will be on hand to watch Windsun Galaxie compete in Saturday’s fifth race, where the colt and regular reinsman Sylvain Filion will start from a familiar location — the outside Post 8.

“He sure is having a tough time with posts,” comments the owner. “But I guess the eight is not as far from the rail as the 10.”

Windsong Geant also heads into Saturday’s Gold Elimination test off a successful outing in Goodtimes action, where he scored a 1:55.2 triumph in the June 25 consolation. However, the Kadabra son — owned by Fred Brayford of Alliston, ON and The Brabant Stable of London, ON — landed a far more advantageous post position than his peer and will start from Post 1 in the third race.

In addition to their Goodtimes successes, Windsong Geant and Windsun Galaxie also share a similar career path. Last season Windsong Geant made just three starts before owner/breeder Bill Loyens took the youngster home and turned him out, opting to focus on a three-year-old campaign.

“It was the best thing we ever did,” says Fred Brayford, of the decision not to press forward last summer. “They’re all not meant to be two-year-olds.”

The owners also chose to castrate the youngster, who is the third foal from former Ontario Sires Stakes star Early Secret ($692,853), and Brayford says it was a completely different Windsong Geant who returned to the races for trainer Shawn Robinson this spring.

“He didn’t show much interest last year,” explains the longtime owner. “He’s a totally different horse now. If he stays together he might be all right.”

Through six starts the gelding has posted three wins and one second for earnings of $48,875. In his Gold Series debut Windsong Geant finished fifth in his elimination, but bounced back the following week with his first victory, logging a 1:56 mile over the Mohawk oval.

Steve Condren will steer Windsong Geant in Saturday’s $40,000 Gold Elimination, looking for a top three finish in order to advance to the $130,000 Gold Final on July 10, part of Georgian Downs’ popular Gold Rush event.

The Gold Eliminations get under way at 7:25 pm on Saturday, July 3 and continue through the tenth race. The top nine finishers from each division will return to the Innisfil oval next Saturday for the quartet of $130,000 Gold Finals.

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To view Saturday’s entries, click here.