Hearthetrainacomin, a four-year-old son of Mr Lavec, will look to find the winner’s circle again via the second leg of the $30,000 General Brock Trotting Series, Thursday evening at Woodbine Racetrack

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Dr. John Chandler, who trains and owns the bay, couldn’t be more pleased with how his gelding has performed as of late, especially with his 1:56.3 lifetime best taken last week, which returned a handsome $28.40 on a successful Win wager.

“There are two things that I absolutely enjoy about him,” Dr. Chandler offered. “First of all, he rarely makes a break. That’s always nice to see with trotters. Second of all, he’s very consistent. If you look down his racelines, he seldom misses a cheque.”

When Dr. Chandler, a resident of Paris, Ont., purchased Hearthetrainacomin for $13,000 at Standardbred Canada's Canadian Open Yearling Sale in 2009, he was looking for a respectable racehorse like his brother, The Orient Express, who banked $217,733.

“I didn’t really go to the sale expecting to buy him,” he admitted. “I know the breeder, Ellwood Irwin, and I noticed Hearthetrainacomin looked a lot like The Orient Express, so I decided to take a chance.”

There has been some tough luck along the way.

“We had a few unfortunate situations with him,” Dr. Chandler said. “Early in his two-year-old year, he had a small OCD (Osteochondrosis Dessicans) in his right-hind ankle which had to be taken out. So I gave him the year off. Then, as a three-year-old, he needed to be gelded and didn’t respond as easily as some other horses do. His mind wasn’t on his business on the track.”

Hearthetrainacomin, who has banked $90,532 in his career, with a record of 10-4-3 from 36 career starts, has certainly blossomed for Dr. Chandler, who recently celebrated his 65th birthday.

“He’s a horse I certainly enjoy racing,” Dr. Chandler said. “One thing about him is that he always puts in a terrific effort.”

Looking ahead to the General Brock, Dr. Chandler, who currently trains four horses, is hoping his trotter engineers another winning journey.

“There looks like there are better horses in the series than him, but then again, he’s probably better than some, too.”

To view the harness racing entries for Thursday at Woodbine, click the following link: Thursday Entries - Woodbine Racetrack.

(WEG)