Roger Mayotte is admittedly a man of few words, preferring instead to let his horses do the talking. A tough-as-nails trotting miss, however, brings out a steady stream of accolades from the veteran horseman.
“I liked her from the first time I sat behind her,” said Mayotte, in reference to Elegant Serenity, a bay daughter of Kadabra out of the ultra-talented Elegantimage. “Her gait, her ability to be adaptable with where she finds herself in a race...she’s very talented.”
On Saturday evening, Mayotte, in his traditional silver and blue colours, will partner the six-time winner from 17 starts in the $250,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Super Final for three-year-old trotting fillies, tabbed as race eight of 12 on the lucrative $2 million card of racing at Woodbine.
The duo will have their work cut out for them. They’re saddled with Post 10, but Mayotte knows the type of effort to expect from Elegant Serenity (listed at 5-1) whenever and wherever she lines up behind the starting gate.
“She’s so easy to work with,” praised Mayotte, who handles driving and training duties. “She gives you a lot of reason to be confident. She knows how to win.”
Not that many would have expected much from the horse who went winless in seven starts as a two-year-old, the same one that’s posted six wins and nine top-three finishes from 10 starts in 2015.
Mayotte, however, kept the faith during the rookie campaign that yielded four third-place performances.
“There were signs that she was going to be a really nice filly,” he said of the Doug Millard-owned filly, who is a member of The Stable That God Loves, a fundraising initiative for the Standardbred Racetrack Chaplaincy of Canada. “She got better as the season went on. You had that sense that good things were ahead. ”
On September 29, at Mohawk, in an OSS Gold Series division event, Elegant Serenity displayed the grit and gumption Mayotte speaks glowingly of, staving off rivals and stopping the clock in 1:55 for a half-length score.
On Saturday the pair, who won the Casual Breeze and Simcoe Stakes this summer, will look to notch another victory and add to Elegant Serenity’s $388,683 bankroll.
“She’s very special,” raved Mayotte. “I know her inside and out. She knows what I want and it’s as though she waits for me to show her what that is.”
A triumph on Saturday night would certainly give Mayotte something to talk about, wouldn’t it?
“It sure would,” he said with a laugh.
To view Saturday's harness racing entries, click on one of the following links:
Saturday Entries - Woodbine Racetrack
Saturday Program Pages - Mohawk Racetrack.
(with files from WEG)
