As Canadian harness racing continues to wait for the green light to resume activity, there are still a few pockets of the planet where charted lines and pari-mutuel action continue.
One of those locations is Southern Oaks Training Center in Florida, the winter training base of Dr. Ian Moore. Moore sent out a handful of notable performers during the Southern Oaks qualifying session on Friday (April 17).
The most accomplished of Moore's pupils is 2019 O'Brien Award winner Century Farroh, who was making his first appearance as an older performer. Moore at the controls behind Century Farroh, who was entered in a two-horse qualifier against stablemate Casimir Richie P. That 2019 open class winner was making his five-year-old debut for driver Dale Spence.
Casimir Richie P took advantage of a pocket ride and powered past his stablemate late to hit the wire first in a time of 1:53.1. Century Farroh was two-plus lengths back of the leader.
Owned by Moore and Michael Goldberg of Toronto, Ont., Casimir Richie P (Astronomical - Casimir Hugs) was a six-time winner in 2019, with three of those wins coming in the Preferred ranks at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Voted Canada's Three-Year-Old Male Pacer of 2019, Century Farroh (Mach Three - Beachy Girl) won 12 of 16 sophomore starts and banked nearly $720,000 for Ratchford Stable NS of North Sydney, N.S.
A few races later, Moore debuted two of his three-year-old pacers that will look to follow in Century Farroh's footsteps -- OSS Super Final winner Tattoo Artist and Denali Seelster. Moore guided Tattoo Artist in the mile, which he timed in 1:52.4 and finished third by a half-length. Denali Seelster was charted as a neck short of Genius Man on the wire.
Tattoo Artist (Hes Watching - Stylish Artist) was a five-time winner as a freshman for Floridians Frank Cannon and Let It Ride Stables Inc. and banked more than $240,000.
The veteran horseman noted that none of his horses came into the qualifiers as sharp as they normally would if racing was active and a target date was imminent.
"We've been turning them out most everyday, all week, and they'd only been jogged four days this week," Moore told Trot Insider. "It's been 12 days since they've been training, no point in climbing them up and getting ready to roll because there's nowhere to roll."
Having said that, Moore had high praise for all of his horses noting that they've "been training fantastic." Track conditions weren't optimal at Southern Oaks as Moore reported that the area had rain overnight that pushed back the start of the qualifying session an hour.
The appearances this morning will be the only ones in Florida for the Moore armada as he, his wife Nancy and the horses will be heading back to Canada before the end of the month.