Although his first three years on the Grand Circuit left his connections wanting more at times, there is no doubt Its My Show knows how to captivate an audience on the big stage.

The son of Sweet Lou - Put On A Show is keyed in ahead of the $540,000 Canadian Pacing Derby, with the chance to add yet another prestigious item to his already sterling resume this Saturday (Aug. 31).

A trip back to Woodbine Mohawk Park, the site of his valiant 2023 Pepsi North America Cup Victory, comes at the perfect time for Its My Show, who has the class and talent to remind his contemporaries what he’s capable of.

One person not in need of a refresher is owner/breeder Richard Young.

“I watched the [NA Cup] replay quite a few times for the first month or so,” said Young. “I don't think I've seen it this year, so there's no reason to keep going back. Hopefully, there's a new one coming soon.”

The 2024 campaign hasn’t exactly gone to plan for Young and the four-year-old bay gelding, whose 1-2-2 record through 10 starts is a far cry from a monstrous 9-4-0 line from 16 starts in 2023.

However, Young firmly believes that the downturn in production is merely a product of tough luck.

And the evidence agrees.

For a horse who routinely posts final quarters in the 26-28 second range, Young was baffled by a curious :34.1 in the Prix D’Été on Aug. 18 at Hippodrome 3R.

“You look at a horse that paces a mile in :50, :48, and :47, coming home in :25 and :26 in virtually every start, and then all of the sudden, comes home in 34 seconds, and paces a mile in almost two minutes. And you go, 'What happened here?'"

“In this case, he hit the gate as they were starting, and he went to the front in an extremely fast quarter on a cuppy track, and it was not going to work out well.”

Its My Show was back to his explosive ways with an impressive :26.1 final panel in a tune-up effort last time out on Aug. 24 at Mohawk.

“Normally, we would say, 'He raced well, we don't need to do this prep race.' But because of the Prix D’Été result — you come home in 34 seconds — although you believe it's a throw out, you want to be sure it's a throw out,” explained Young.

“So, you race in a prep race you normally wouldn't have gone in, and you race him conservatively, hoping that things can work out. He had a lot coming home. He looked really good, and we said, 'Okay, that was a one-time thing, now we just need to get some racing luck.’”

A 34-time starter with a 10-8-3 lifetime summary, Its My Show is in good hands with driver Scott Zeron for what will be their 26th start as a tandem.

On the year, Zeron has recorded 146 wins to date, a UDRS of 0.286, and more than $6.7 million in purse earnings across 927 starts.

While the circumstances heading into Saturday may feel different than the NA Cup, Young, who bought his first horse in 1987, is confident in his millionaire homebred pacer.

“I went into the NA Cup thinking, 'We have the best horse.’ Maybe we didn't have the best horse, but we got our own way, so to speak, and did win the race,” recalled Young.

“Going into this race, we're certainly not the favourite, but we're certainly not 15-1, either. I like his chances because he's flexible. We can do what we want to do with him. He's won coming from off the pace, and he's won it in front. We prefer to come off the pace, but sometimes the field and the post position dictate and you have no choice.” 

The number of eyes on Its My Show might be down from last year, but Young knows his ratings are as strong as they’ve ever been.

“It's hard to forget about Its My Show. To completely forget about him is probably a mistake — I don't think they forget about him much — but they're not thinking of him in the manner of which he was thought of last year, which is fine with me.”

The 2024 Canadian Pacing Derby is the eighth race on Saturday, with a first post time of 7:10 p.m. To view the full entries for Saturday's card of harness racing, click one of the following links:

• Woodbine Mohawk Park - Saturday Entries - Saturday Program Pages (courtesy TrackIT).

(with files from Woodbine)