He heads to Mohawk Racetrack on Sunday as the reigning Gold final champion, but there is more at stake for three-year-old trotter Define The World than another piece of Gold Series hardware.

"The owner is toying with the idea of supplementing him to the Kentucky Futurity," explains trainer John Bax. "Depending on how he races in his next couple of starts."

Define The World has captured nine of 16 starts this season, finished second five times and fourth once - missing just one cheque. The son of Duke Of York and Venice Holiday has collected one Gold consolation trophy, one Gold elimination trophy, one Gold final trophy, the Canadian Breeders Championship title, and the victor's spoils from a $132,327 division of the Simcoe Stakes.

In his only appearance against North America's top colts - the Goodtimes Stake in mid-June - Define The World finished second by a neck in his elimination and was bumped from third to second in the $279,786 final.

Unfortunately, the gelding was not eligible to the Canadian Trotting Classic at Mohawk earlier this month, nor to the Breeders Crown in late November at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, so another shot at the continent's leading colts will require a supplement fee. Bax says owner and breeder Al Libfeld of Pickering, ON is contemplating the October 4 Kentucky Futurity for a number of reasons.

"It's a good place to showcase him, it's a big track, and nobody would be paying any attention to him, so he could maybe get a trip," explains the horseman.

Before Libfeld makes the leap of faith required to land Define The World at Lexington, Kentucky's famed Red Mile, the colt will have to deliver a first class effort in Sunday's Gold elimination, and again in next weekend's Gold final. In spite of the fact that he has not raced since the August 30 Simcoe, Bax says the trotter is in fine fettle.

"He's had a few weeks off. We didn't think it would hurt him. He's raced tough enough lately," says the Peterborough, ON resident. "He thinks he's pretty good right now, he's pretty cocky right now."

The veteran horseman adds that the winner of $387,333 is quite easy to keep in shape. The gelding spends all of his time outdoors, so a light training mile four or five days before Sunday's skirmish is all that will be required to shift Define The World back into racing gear.

While Define The World tries to earn his ticket to Kentucky, rival B Strike Three will be trying to reclaim the Gold final crown he lost to the gelding in August. The winner of the first two Gold final titles, B Strike Three heads into Sunday's event off a pair of tough outings in the Canadian Trotting Classic. Fifth in his September 6 elimination, the Striking Sahbra son was ninth in the $1 million final, raced over a rain soaked Mohawk oval last weekend.

Elora, ON resident Rousell 'Raz' Mackenzie trains the winner of $638,813 for owner and breeder Ben Robards of Shepherdsville, Kentucky.

The sophomore trotting colts will renew their Gold Series rivalry on Mohawk Racetrack's Sunday evening program, which gets under way at 7:30 p.m.

Click here to see Mohawk's Sunday entries.

(OSS)