“Training down he always did everything right, but I never saw that special spark. His will to win is unbelievable. No matter what happens, he always seems to find that extra gear. He doesn’t want anybody going by him.”

Michaels Power arrives at Rideau Carleton Raceway for Sunday’s Gold Final just $29,350 shy of $1 million in earnings. A win or a second in Sunday’s $130,000 contest would put the three-year-old pacer into an elite category that trainer Casie Coleman never considered a possibility for the gelding prior to the start of his sophomore season.

Heading into Sunday’s Gold Series contest off a victory in the Aug. 12 Confederation Cup at Flamboro Downs, Michaels Power finished second by three-quarters of a length in his elimination. The gelding came back in the second heat with a 1:52.4 victory that saw him hit the wire one-quarter length ahead of Dynamic Youth and elimination winner Pet Rock.

Coleman gave the gelding some extra vacation time following the two-heat contest and says Michaels Power bounced back even better than she had hoped.

“I expected him to be more tired than he was,” says the Cambridge resident. “I gave him a few days off after, let him rest and have a little bit of extra R and R. He seems to have come out of it real well.

“I trained him a couple of trips Tuesday and he trained very well. He seems sound and healthy,” she continues. “He appreciated the week off.”

All seven colts with their names in the box for last week’s elimination were advanced directly to Sunday’s Gold Final without contesting the elimination event. Coleman says that extra week was likely necessary for the gelding’s recovery to be complete.

Michaels Power and regular reinsman Scott Zeron will battle their six rivals from Post 3 in Sunday’s ninth race. Secretsoftheknight, I Found My Beach, Warrawee Needy and Mel Mara also competed in the Confederation Cup, while Goban and Hard To Mach have not raced since the Aug. 4 Gold Final at Mohawk Racetrack.

Michaels Power captured that Gold Final in a personal best 1:49.2 and will be looking for his third Gold Final trophy on Sunday. Through 12 starts this season the gelding has only been bested twice, finishing second in his Confederation Cup elimination and sixth in his elimination for the Pepsi North America Cup on June 9. In addition to the Confederation Cup title and two Gold Finals, the pacer swept his elimination and the final of the Upper Canada Cup, won a division of the Somebeachsomewhere Stakes, captured the Canadian Breeders Championship Final, and won two Gold Eliminations.

Bred and owned by Jeffrey Snyder of New York, NY, the gelding is the son of Camluck and prodigious broodmare Michelles Jackpot, a half-sister to $2.4 million winner Cams Card Shark who won $695,439 in her own racing career. Among the mare’s offspring are former Ontario Sires Stakes star Michelles Power, who banked $1.3 million before her retirement, and $811,612 winner Michaels Marvel.

Michaels Power will be looking to join his sister in the million dollar club on Wednesday, and will almost certainly achieve that feat without ever leaving the province of Ontario.

“He’s nearly at a million this year and he hasn’t left Ontario,” says Coleman. “It’s pretty incredible.

“I never expected he was going to win something like the Confederation Cup, and win a division of the Somebeachsomewhere against American horses,” she adds.

Michaels Power and his three-year-old pacing colt peers will battle for the lion’s share of the $130,000 Gold Final purse in Sunday’s ninth race.

Sunday’s program also features the $183,500 Frank Ryan Memorial Trot. The 48th edition of the Frank Ryan Trot sees five former Ontario Sires Stakes stars waging battle against two American-bred invaders in Race 13. Rideau Carleton Raceway’s exciting Sunday evening program gets underway at 6:30 pm.

To view entries for Sunday's card of harness racing at Rideau Carleton, click the following link: Sunday Entries - Rideau Carleton.

(OSS)