While undefeated two-year-old trotter High Bid has dominated his division all season long, he will be noticeably absent from this Sunday's Atlantic Breeders Crown Championships at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
Following High Bid's last start on Sept. 24 in the Blair Andrew Memorial Trot at Charlottetown, trainer and owner Joseph Smallwood discovered his talented youngster had sustained a leg injury forcing him to the sidelines for the remainder of the season.
"He's through for the year. He hurt his leg," Smallwood told Trot Insider, adding that he believes the gelding suffered a tendon strain.
Smallwood had purchased the Meridian Farms-bred son of Neal out of the Garland Lobell mare Highly Organized for $5,700 at the Nova Scotia Provincial Exhibition Yearling Sale.
"I liked his breeding and I liked the size and the bearings of the colt," Smallwood said of High Bid, a half-brother to 2014 Maritime Breeders champion Southfield Shadow, who also happened to miss her chance at the Atlantic Breeders Crown, due to sickness.
An easy horse to handle, High Bid has impressed his trainer most with his determination on the racetrack. He won eight straight stakes, including his four Atlantic Sires Stakes divisions, while earning $24,320 in purses. Amidst the summer Sires Stakes events, he posted a 15-length victory in the Callbeck Stakes at Summerside Raceway. In the last Sires Stakes leg on Sept. 2, he set a 2:05.1 track record for two-year-old trotters at Inverness Raceway and has since won divisions of the Lady Slipper Stakes, P.E.I. Colt Stakes and Andrew Memorial (in a career-best clocking of 2:04.4), all at Charlottetown.
While High Bid's season will end there, Smallwood's three-year-old trotter J K Blaze will compete in this weekend's Atlantic Breeders Crown. The son Northern Bailey and KC Popcicle Grin will start from post four in the $9,000 three-year-old trotting final.
Between High Bid and J K Blaze, Smallwood has managed to campaign the top two trotters in this year's Atlantic Sires Stakes program from a stable of just three horses.
J K Blaze, who was a third-place finisher in last year's Atlantic Breeders Crown, appears to have overcome some early season breaking issues and has risen to the top of the sophomore division. The William Andrew-bred gelding has gone undefeated in all four legs of the Atlantic Sires Stakes and has accumulated seven wins in 10 starts this year for earnings of $21,649. His only losses were a result of breaks and a break in his schedule leading up to his fourth-place finish in the Lady Slipper Stakes on Oct. 4 at Summerside.
"He's seems good," said the veteran Stratford, P.E.I. horseman. "He was off there about three weeks without a race. I think he's just as sharp as he was."
With regular reinsman Walter Cheverie stateside for the Lexington Select Yearling Sale, Mike Stevenson will step in to drive the chestnut trotter.
First race post time for Sunday's Atlantic Breeders Crown program is set for 1 p.m.
To view Sunday's harness racing entries, click the following links: Entries / Program Pages.