While Post 9 in Monday’s $130,000 Gold Final at Mohawk Racetrack may not be the ideal opportunity for Mr Joe Sixpack to make his mark in the province’s premiere three-year-old trotting colt division

, trainer Shane Arsenault is hopeful that the colt can emerge as a regular player on the elite circuit this season.

The Striking Sahbra son captured his Gold Elimination last week with a quality effort that saw him roll up the outside and then dig in through the stretch to claim a three-quarter length victory in a personal best 1:54.1, the quickest mile of the three eliminations. The win was Mr Joe Sixpack’s second of the season; he kicked off his sophomore campaign with a 1:55.4 triumph in an overnight event at Woodbine Racetrack on May 13.

“I thought he was training pretty good, but you never want to get too, too high on them. They can raise you up and let you down pretty fast, all in the same step,” says Arsenault. “The first race, I was happy with it. The qualifiers were just so-so, then the first race he raced really well. Of course the other night was a pleasant surprise.”

The Waterdown resident and his father Louis Arsenault of Freelton, ON purchased Mr Joe Sixpack last fall from Kjell Magne Andersen. The Arsenault’s captured one Grassroots division and finished fifth in a Grassroots Semifinal with the colt before wrapping up his freshman campaign, and would have been satisfied with a return to the Grassroots program this year. Arsenault admits it was a quirk of scheduling that landed Mr Joe Sixpack in last week’s Gold Elimination.

“The Grassroots wasn’t until five weeks after the first Gold, so I either had him ready five weeks too early or I better try the Gold,” explains the horseman. “And after the first race in Toronto I decided that I’d probably give him a shot at the Gold as sit around and wait. I really didn’t know what he was going to be, whether he was going to be a Grassroots colt or a Gold colt, but with this being right at Mohawk — this is where he’s trained all winter — it was kind of the shot to take.”

With last week’s solid performance in the books the Arsenault family — Shane’s 17-year-old son Brandon is also part of the colt’s ownership group this year — is daring to peek ahead at Mr Joe Sixpack’s prospects beyond the Ontario Sires Stakes program.

“He’s got a couple engagements, I think the Goodtimes is up next (June 11), and there’s the Canadian Breeders (July 15) and then I think there’s the Simcoe (Sept. 3), and that’s pretty much it, he’s not going too far from home,” notes Arsenault. “He can stay right here and make fairly decent money, hopefully, if he’s any good at all.”

Randy Waples piloted Mr Joe Sixpack to last week’s Gold Elimination victory, but the Milton, ON resident also claimed an elimination trophy with Sim Brown, a colt he teamed through the 2010 season. As a result, Arsenault was required to select an alternate driver for Mr Joe Sixpack, a process that was not complete as of press time.

Waples will steer Sim Brown from Post 5 in the $130,000 Gold Final, with the other elimination winner, Daylon Magician, starting from Post 6 for regular reinsman Jack Moiseyev of Moffat, ON.

The first Gold Final of the three-year-old trotting colt season goes postward as Race 5 on Mohawk Racetrack’s Monday, May 30 program, which gets under way at 7:10 p.m.

(OSS)

To view entries for Monday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Monday Entries – Mohawk Racetrack.