Mike Sinclair’s Shutthefrontdoor will look to start her 2014 campaign in winning form when she heads to the gate in the third and final division of the Blizzard Series on Friday at Woodbine Racetrack.
The sophomore pacing miss celebrated recently qualified on January 6 following a layoff from her two-year-old season, which earned her $21,240.
Sinclair trains the daughter of Well Said for his wife Rosemary Shelswell, Guy Beaulieu and Richard Villeneuve.
“She had a good season last year and has come back very well,” Sinclair said from Woodbine. “I actually just trained her a mile here and she was just super. We came a wicked last quarter and she was very impressive.”
A $40,000 yearling purchase, Shutthefrontdoor earned her 1:55.2 lifetime best at Tioga Downs last season and capped off her year with a 1-2-3 record from nine starts.
“She’s the type of filly that will follow another horse all day long,” Sinclair said. “She just needs that killer instinct at the end of a mile. She has the tools and maybe with last year under her belt, she can step up even more this season.”
The youngster will begin from post five in race 10 for driver Mike Saftic in the third and last division.
“She might need a start or two and I wish I could of got a little more work into her, but with the weather we’ve been having it’s been difficult,” said the Cookstown resident. “This is a good series for her and she has another series at Pocono in March so I’ll be aiming her for that as well.”
Sinclair certainly had a credible season with his US-breds, most notably All Bets Off. The son of Bettors Delight competed in the New York Sires Stakes program and finished a game second to the undefeated World Champion Hes Watching at Batavia before being sold for an undisclosed sum to trainer Ron Burke.
All Bets Off went on to win the Matron Final in 1:50 and ended his freshman season with $186,682 in earnings. Sinclair and his wife, Rosemary, elected to retain a piece of the four-time winner.
This past fall at Harrisburg, Sinclair and his partners purchased four yearlings -- two sired by Bettors Delight, one by Conway Hall and one by Lucky Chucky.
“So far so good,” Sinclair said. “We’ll be doing the same program as he did last year and with that first year in the US under my belt, I feel a lot better.”
Sinclair says he will once again return to Tioga Downs for the racing meet there in May and race in the sires stakes program in both Pennsylvania and New York this season.
To view the entries for Friday night's card of harness racing, click the following link: Friday Entries -- Woodbine Racetrack.
(WEG)