New York's Saratoga Raceway has kicked off its 2010 season, but it'll be a while before its 2009 Horse of the Year makes an appearance
.
Pablo Angus, a Quebec-bred trotter owned by welding-shop owner Mario Bourgea of Bedford, Que., suffered a tendon injury in his final start of the campaign at Saratoga on Nov. 27.
The gelding is showing no ill effects now, but Bourgea doesn't want to rush him back. He's too valuable a horse, and the family pet to boot.
"He's still probably two months away," said Bourgea, who jogged the horse himself last weekend. "He just needs a bit more mileage."
Now eight, Pablo Angus is on the cusp of $750,000 in career earnings after collecting another $150,000 in 2009.
The former Quebec Sires Stakes star won 10 races last year for trainer Bert Belanger, nine at Saratoga and one at Yonkers, and was named Saratoga's top older male trotter, trotter, and overall Horse of the Year.
"I got three plaques," said Bourgea, 54, who bought half the horse from trainer Pierre Lacharite for $8,000 when he was a yearling and the rest in the summer of 2008 for an undisclosed sum.
The gelding already is one of the richest Quebec-breds in history, but Bourgea would dearly like him to join the likes of Mccooeye and Hanko Angus in the millionaires’ club.
"If he comes back sound," he said, "I'm sure he'll get it."
(Trot Insider exclusive by Paul Delean)