Put your money down on Mark Ford trainee Artists Rally -- the Real Artist colt who was a game runner-up in the opener of The Count B Pacing Series last Friday at Woodbine -- and you’ll get a special bonus on February 6. In the $20,000 second leg of The Count B, Ford is also sending postward a Camluck colt named My Gift To You, as part of a double entry – and it’s a promising gift indeed.

My Gift To You is making his first start back at Woodbine after a sojourn down at the Meadowlands and Yonkers Raceway, where he started out his sophomore season with two firsts, a second and a third in four starts. In his last victory, the colt shaved more than three seconds off his lifetime best speed mark, and he seems primed to make a statement in his return to the Great White North.

The Ford entry is strong enough to have garnered shorter morning line odds than last week’s opening-leg victor, Herestopatrick, who is rated the 3-1 second morning line choice – but the gelded son of Apaches Fame deserves serious respect in this series as well. Not only did he win the final of the Ontario Sired Autumn Series at Woodbine in December, but he also claimed a division of the Snowshoe Pacing Series last month for trainer Mark Austin and owner/breeder Mike Cecile of Windsor, Ont. In total, he’s two for four in 2009, and may surprise again with his stalking style.

Catch the second leg of The Count B pacing series, for three-year-old non-winners of three races of $30,000 lifetime (as of October 31, 2008) on Friday night at Woodbine. It’s slated as Race 6, post time 9:10 p.m.

(WEG)