Only one of the competitors from the 2009 Spring Pacing Championship final is back for this year's edition of the event, and according to the morning line odds it's a wide-open affair
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A full field of 10 open class horses will contest Saturday's $90,000 final with reigning champ Ramegade Bruiser coming in off a win in one of last week's divisions, a race in which the pacers had more to battle than just each other.
"Leaving out of there, the wind just threw him sideways," trainer-owner Dave Brown told Trot Insider about the fierce weather conditions from last Saturday that affected horses both leaving and in the stretch.
"He's a different kind of horse," said driver Roger Mayotte. "He's one that you have to drive to keep him going but he carries himself quite a way."
"Bruiser" has seen his share of drivers but Brown is extremely pleased with having the experienced hands of Mayotte on his stable star.
"I've known Roger for years, he's a hell of a horseman," said Brown. "He's likely won more opens and free-for-alls than anyone on the grounds."
And while the blue and silver-clad reinsman has guided his share of top campaigners, one race that has eluded him is the Spring Pacing Championship. With Ramegade Bruiser at 7-1 in the morning line and leaving from Post 4, Mayotte feels his horse is a serious threat in the Saturday feature.
"He drew well, he's a classy millionaire and he can jump and up and compete with these horses," stated Mayotte. "A lot of his races have been the hard way, fighting and taking on all comers...and he battles them off.
"The first time I won with him, the end of the mile was his strongest part of the race."
Brown agrees with the testament to the Rambaran gelding's toughness
"That's one of his attributes, he's so tough I wish he could race a mile and a half - he'd never get beat because he just never gives up."
That determination might just be the key to victory in Saturday night's tilt, featuring a stacked field of stakes winners and open class warriors. Both Brown and Mayotte agree that the 2010 Spring Pacing Championship is shaping up to be one extremely competitive and highly engaging event.
First post for Saturday’s program of harness racing at Woodbine is 7:30 p.m. To view the field for the SPC, click here.