Rideau Carleton Raceway fans get their last taste of Gold Series action on Sunday evening as nine talented two-year-old trotting colts square off in their second last
Gold Final.
Hoping to earn a sizeable share of the $130,000 Gold Final purse is Magic Fruit, who scored his first lifetime victory in last week’s elimination round.
"He raced very good the other day," says trainer/driver Per Henriksen. "If he gets a decent trip in the Final, he should have as good a shot as anybody."
The Norwood resident will steer Magic Fruit from Post 3 in the sixth race on Sunday, the Kadabra son’s second Gold Final appearance in four attempts.
Magic Fruit made his first charted appearance in Pennsylvania at Pocono Downs, logging a 2:02 victory in a June 11 qualifier. The youngster shipped into Henriksen’s barn in late June to prepare for the Gold Series season opener at Mohawk Racetrack, where he finished third in the July 16 Gold Elimination and second by a head in the July 23 Gold Final.
In the second Gold event, Magic Fruit made an early miscue over the Flamboro Downs oval and failed to advance out of the Aug. 9 elimination. Saddled with Post 9 at Mohawk Racetrack in his third Gold Elimination appearance, Magic Fruit delivered a fifth-place finish after battling early for the lead. The colt was third in an Aug. 30 overnight, and then finished fourth from Post 9 in his division of the Champlain Stakes one week later. A hard fought third in his Sept. 13 William Wellwood Memorial Elimination earned Magic Fruit a spot in the $515,000 final, but traffic trouble caused the youngster to go off stride early and saw him settle for fifth.
"He was unlucky and got bumped in the Wellwood, otherwise he would have been in the top three I think," says Henriksen, who conditions the youngster for Ernst Gerbaulet of Recklinghausen, GER.
Before Magic Fruit arrived in his barn, Henriksen was aware that the youngster possessed talent, and the veteran trotting conditioner has been pleased with the way the colt has learned to use his latent ability.
"He’s getting better and better now," says the horseman. "He always had talent, but talent is one thing — you have to make them do it your way, if not, it’s no good to you."
Through nine starts Magic Fruit has accumulated one win, one second and three thirds for earnings of $100,063, and Henriksen believes the colt’s future is bright as he looks toward the remaining Gold Series event, the Breeders Crown, Super Final and Matron Stakes.
Hoping to prevent Magic Fruit from earning the lion’s share of Sunday’s $130,000 Gold Final purse are the other two elimination winners, Reach Higher and Zorgwijk Kingpin, who will start from Posts 1 and 4 respectively.
The two-year-old trotting colts square off in Race 6 on Rideau Carleton Raceway’s Sunday evening program, which gets under way at 6:30 p.m.
(OSS)
To view Sunday’s harness racing entries, click here.