Mach Dreamer has not been bested in Ontario Sires Stakes competition since July 3, and driver Rick Zeron sees no reason why that statistic should look different after the Tuesday, October 5 Gold final at Windsor Raceway
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“What can I say about him. He’s a perfect, perfect colt to drive. He just does everything right,” said the veteran reinsman. “He can just fly home. He just sits on a helmet and he waits for you to pull the right line to ask him to go.”
The Oakville, Ont. resident will send Mach Dreamer after a third straight Gold final victory from Post 6 on Tuesday, and Zeron figures the post will suit the late-charging son of Mach Three--Boy Meets Girl.
“It’s probably going to set up pretty good for him. He probably will get some real good cover,” noted Zeron. “It looks like there is going to be some early speed in there.”
Murray Brethour of Sunderland, Ont. conditions Mach Dreamer for owner-breeder Stephen Scarff of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Zeron was pleased when the pair asked him to drive the colt in the July 24 Canadian Breeders Championship at Mohawk Racetrack. In their first outing, Zeron teamed Mach Dreamer to a runner-up finish and since then the pair have not been worse than second through seven starts.
“It’s really nice to be able to drive a colt like this and I’m really happy for Steve Scarff, because he bred and raised this horse. It’s a little bit of a feather in his cap that he has a colt that is this good,” said the driver. “And I can’t say enough about Murray Brethour. He just does a great job with every horse that he brings in to get raced over here.”
The relationship between Scarff, Brethour and Zeron is a far reaching one. In addition to driving Mach Dreamer for the Nova Scotia-based owner, Zeron also trains and drives Scarff’s other three-year-old pacing gelding Broadies Song, a horse taught his early lessons on Brethour’s farm. Broadies Song owns the only other Gold final trophy awarded this season, but has finished sixth in his last three Gold elimination outings and failed to advance to the Gold finals.
Both colts will likely advance to the season-ending Super Final, which will leave Zeron with a choice to make, but for now the reinsman is focused on Tuesday’s contest.
“He’s going into it real good. He got home the other day in :27 and a hair,” said the driver of Mach Dreamer’s elimination win, which saw him stop the Windsor Raceway teletimer at 1:52.
“If I get the trip and he doesn’t get shoved four or five wide, if I can get him shoved out three wide kicking around the top turn, I’m in contention,” he continued.
Among the colts Zeron will be looking at to set the tempo on Tuesday is the other elimination winner, Twin B Warrior, who delivered a sharp 1:51.3 victory off a three-week break in his schedule.
“He’s back sound and fresh,” said owner Mac Nichol, “And he stepped right up to the plate, right off the bat.”
Burlington, Ont. resident Nichol has been riding a remarkable wave of luck in the Ontario Sires Stakes program recently. Last week his two-year-old pacing filly Monkey On My Wheel and two-year-old pacing colt Mystician captured their Gold finals on the same night at Mohawk Racetrack, three-year-old trotting colt Arriba Amigo won his Gold elimination two nights later, and then Twin B Warrior captured his Gold elimination on Tuesday.
Driver Randy Waples of Milton, Ont. will be looking to contribute another win to Nichol’s hot streak when he sends Twin B Warrior off the gate from Post 2 in Tuesday’s seventh race. Hillsburgh, Ont. resident Jeff Gillis conditions Twin B Warrior, and would love to see last year’s Grassroots champion add a Gold final trophy to his collection.
Windsor Raceway’s Tuesday evening program begins at 7:00 p.m. and the lightning-fast three-year-old pacing colts will wage their second-last Gold final battle in Race 7.
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