"A five-eighths mile track, it sure makes a big difference. We've got five in to go in the stakes finals, and we've got two eight holes and two seven holes."

Jamie Gray sends out a talented group of pacers in Saturday's Alberta Super Finals at Northlands Park, hampered by what can only be classified as bad luck in the draw. Gray, who surpassed the 2,000 win plateau earlier this year, is hopeful that his charges can overcome some outside posts and a recent rash of sickness that went through his stable prior to one of the biggest days on Alberta's harness racing calendar.

In today's episode of Trot Radio, Gray offers his thoughts on his stakes charges heading into Saturday's finals.

Three-year old pacing filly B C Fantasy: "She's a nice filly. She's an off-the-pace horse so she needs front-end action to happen and with the four-horse Keith Clark entry is makes it kind of tough. There won't be much action unless I create it or someone else does."

Three-year old pacing filly Gottabesexy: "All my three-year-olds come up sick about six weeks ago. It's really taken her a long time to come back. It's going to be tough but they're going to hear from her, that's for sure."

Three-year-old pacing colt Red Star Tiger: "He's a nice colt and an off-the-pace horse. He seems to be about third or fourth best out there but he has an inside post for a change. We'll see what happens, he'll get a piece of the pie."

Three-year-old pacing colt Red Star Big City: "Another one that come up sick on me. He's was racing really well, knocked off about five seconds in a row and just seemed to be getting better. We'd have bad luck with him, he came up sick and we had to scratch him and then I had the vet inject his hocks about three or four weeks ago, he got an infection under the skin and we had to scratch out of another stakes elim."

Two-year-old pacing filly Popcorn: "She seems to be second best out there right now. She trained really well this week, the only downside is she drew the eight hole too. We'll have to see what happens when the favourites drew the 1-2. It's going to be tough but she's a real nice filly and she's a filly we'll hear a lot from next year because she's a big mare."

To listen to the full interview with Borg and Gray, click the play button below.

Episode 232 – Trainer-Driver Jamie Gray

Audio Format: MP3 audio

Host: Norm Borg

To view program pages for Saturday's card, click here. To view the full list of entries for Northlands' Saturday card of harness racing, click the following link: Saturday Entries - Northlands Park

Please note that the opinions expressed in the featured interview are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect Rideau Carleton Raceway and/or Standardbred Canada.