With the scheduled date of the 2022 Pepsi North America Cup just over two months away, Trot Insider will profile some of the race's top contenders as horses ready to compete for one of Canadian harness racing's biggest prizes.

Bob Loblaw continues the countdown, coming in at #9 in TROT Magazine's 2022 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book assessed odds of 20-1.

Bred by Woodbine Mohawk Park's announcer Ken Middleton along with the late Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Famer Bill Galvin, Bob Loblaw (Sunshine Beach - Lady Marina) picked up three wins and six top-three finishes from 12 starts at two while earning $233,657. He took his mark of 1:52.4 in a Nassagaweya division, but the biggest win for Bob Loblaw came in the 2021 Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final courtesy a slick steer from driver Sylvain Filion captured impeccably (and featured above) by award-winning track photographer Clive Cohen.

Trot Insider caught up with trainer-owner Middleton for an update on the talented colt as he prepares for his sophomore season after ending his rookie campaign on a high note for co-owners Dave Walls, James Grant and  Starting Centre Stables.

"So it turns out after we shut him down at the end of the year and then turned him out, he blew something out of his hairline in a foot so that was in all likelihood the culprit of what was what was nagging away at him," said Middleton. "It was just kind of festering but, you know, they can't tell you they're hurting there. We thought maybe it was a splint or foot-related...we did the best we could to alleviate some of the stuff he was dealing with and it all worked out in the Super Final. That was a great way to put him away at the end of the year because if he threw in another clunker it was going to be a long winter to sit there chew on that all winter. So at least we got to finish on a high note and that afforded us the luxury of being able to stake him up a little more heavily this year and dream the dream like everybody else."

Where did he winter?

"The other colt I had, Dont Poke The Bear, he raced until early November so I just kept Bob at the training centre I'm at until the other colt had finished his season and then they got turned out at Cindy Graham's farm. It's quite a ways up north but it's a beautiful spot. Jimmy Tropea, who warmed up Bob all year, told me about it as Scott McEneny turned his horses out there, and I'm really glad because Cindy and her husband are great people and they have a beautiful farm. I'd never heard about until this fall and I'm glad I made the decision to turn them out up there."

When did you bring him back and have you noticed any changes from last year to this year?

"He came back just before Christmas. At the time when I brought him back he had filled out and he grew a bit taller and stuff like that, but it was more along the way from then until now that he's really shot up taller and he's big and strong. Other than that, he's the same kind of horse. He's a little less spooky than he was last year. He was always just funny with some things; that was dirt in his face at the start and then we kind of got around that a little bit with some equipment changes, but he just sees things differently than some horses do. He doesn't miss much. Almost sees dead people."

Where are you at with him now?

"We went in 2:01 at Mohawk [on April 2]. Sylvain [Filion] was actually there; I was going to get in touch with him for next week, but it was such a nice day and the track was good and it was warmer. So you almost almost go your speed on days that when Mother Nature presents you a nice day, right? You don't mind going a little bit faster because you never know if you're going to go back next Saturday, and if it's going to be windy and cold and maybe rainy and stuff and then you can't go the speed that you want to go so we went a little quicker yesterday than we planned to go but I'm OK with that. It's not a big deal. He's been in that speed before and he's fully capable of it, and he did it easy. So that was the main thing. Sylvain got off the bike and said he was good. He drove straight and strong and willing. So I'm super, super happy."

What will his early schedule look like leading up to the Pepsi North America Cup?

"May 13 is the SBOA eliminations, so that's the target date for me. He's paid up to that, and that will be his first race. So he'll qualify in a perfect world third week of April, maybe late April. And then we'll aim for that SBOA elimination if necessary, if not they go right to the Final the following week. And he's paid up to the Somebeachsomewhere. I guess he'll tell us if he's worthy of going there. And then he's got the NA Cup elimination after that.

"It's all going to be dependent, of course, on what he tells us. We've given him the opportunity to race in those races. It's up to him if he wants to or not."

What does his tentative schedule look like after the Pepsi North America Cup?

"It's amazing how many Canadian races we have. I took the John Cecchin approach of not leaving Canada. I'm just staying here. You know, we're fortunate. It was a bonus to get the SBOA for the colts to start the year which, to me, is great. I was fearful of having the three-year-old colts go to London for their first start in an OSS Gold, which has been the case in the past. I just think it's a tough spot to race a horse in the first start of the year. I may have even considered bypassing it.

"So he's got the SBOA, Somebeachsomewhere. We've paid him up to the North America Cup. The Sires Stakes season starts later for the three-year-old colts because of the makeup of those stakes scheduled for them at the start of the year here in Ontario. So his first Sires Stakes race isn't until July. If it all works out, he's got five Gold possibilities this year. And we also paid him up to the Breeders Crown because it's in our own backyard. We talked about some other stakes and this and that, and it was the one that made the most sense. It was going to be about the same amount of money to pay into the Breeders Crown as would have been to, say, go to the Meadowlands Pace but we get to do it in our own backyard. He's got a great schedule; if he can get through the first five weeks of racing there, it really works out to his advantage because you can give them lots of nice breaks along the way and freshen up and keep them happy and healthy and if it's the way it's going to work out it's gonna work out just fine. And there's more than enough money out there if he's good enough."

What's his biggest asset / strength?

"His versatility and his intelligence I think are his two best attributes. He's like his mom, he could probably pace a quarter off the gate in 25 and change. He's got wicked speed off the gate, but as he showed in the Super Final, he's also got incredible tracking skills. He can sit back and hunt them down. To me, that's a sign of a good horse.

"I think the common denominator with all great horses is they're smart and he's super smart. He'll eat his lunch and he'll just chill in his stall. He spends a lot of time relaxing. He's not hard on himself in that sense. He's just a very smart, intelligent horse and that he's got a good undercarriage and a good body size to him, he's a big strong horse."

At what point last year did you think this horse was North America Cup material?

"Last year was it was a real roller coaster ride. Things didn't start out very well with the break in the first qualifier. But then gradually, the horse became what I really truly thought he was going to be which was a very good horse.

"The salvation was really the Super Final. The nice thing was the Flamboro Ontario Sires Stakes Gold gave us a two-week window as opposed to one week, which was the case in all those other races...two weeks to really work away to try and troubleshoot what exactly [was bothering him] and we never really were able to troubleshoot what it was but we're able to make some changes. I got my blacksmith Jeff Boyd to put a set of razor pads on him just to give them a little more support there, just went to work on him -- cold hosing and this and that. And Sylvain's drive in the Super Final itself was a masterpiece. He babied the horse around the last turn, kept them safe. That was always a trouble point for him at points this year. But once he got him out of the last turn and straightened him up, he was rock solid."

As someone who has called the North America Cup since the mid 2000s and watched this race since you were a kid, how does it feel to have your homebred and a colt you train mentioned as a contender in the race?

"It's really cool. Like you say, as a young guy growing up just watching the race and thinking of all the all the great horses that were in it — and so many of them memorable — it's really hard to believe that you've maybe got a horse that can race in it. Just to race in it is something else; if you have success in it, that's a bonus. 

"It's funny, Greg Blanchard last spring contacted me and asked if I'd be willing to do an interview about training horses and he'd asked me that question about how cool would it be to be in the North America Cup, and said 'would you call the race or would you want to be in the paddock with your horse?' and I really didn't know how to answer that question. I just thought about it, because it's stuff we dream about. It's no different than being a kid playing road hockey in the middle of winter and then someday maybe playing in the Stanley Cup. It's the greatest stage so it's all part of the dream. We're all dreamers in this industry. We dream of getting to those big races and having horses good enough to race in them. So we're in a position where, from now until the middle of June, we've got an opportunity to dream we've been dreaming all winter. You just hope everything goes smooth, according to schedule, and keep them healthy and happy and sound, all the rest...and then you still need luck that night too, of course, but it's a lot of fun."

If Bob Loblaw makes the 2022 Pepsi North America Cup Final, where will Ken Middleton be located on race night?

"If the horse happens to race in the North America Cup, I'll be up in the announcer's booth announcing races. I've got good people in place to race the horse on race night. I obviously play a big part during the weekend getting them to that point, but I've got capable people, people that I respect that take him to the track and race him on race nights.

"Becky Rose, she's been in the game a long time. She's very, very meticulous. She does a great job. And she she raised him every single start last year for me. My niece Kendall helped out a bit and Jimmy Tropea warmed him up every night. They've all got good feedback. Jimmy would message me and say 'hey, we sharp warming up, he was great.' And Becky communicates well, keeping an eye on him along the way and like that how he was after the race or if things change from week to week. And of course Sylvain Filion drove him every start and if you get Sylvain down on your horse...to me, he's one of the best if not the best on our circuit. He's sought after and if you get him it's an advantage, a big advantage. So that's the key, to try and have as many of those little advantages on other people along the way. Whether it's a driver or a blacksmith or a vet or a feed program or anything like that. You want to try and do as much as you can to give yourself the edge over everyone else. Or just the work; some people cut corners, other people that are at the barn until 2:30 on a Sunday. You know, doing all those little things that that to me is what separates some people from others I guess."