Trainer Casie Coleman told Trot Insider her big boy, Art Colony, is right on schedule to make his first qualifier of the season at Mohawk Racetrack on Friday morning
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The hulking son of Artsplace - Asleep On The Beach, who was one of the most consistent rookies in last year’s pacing colt division, turned in a training trip in the 2:05 range on Tuesday for Coleman’s assistant trainer, Ricky Forgie, at Classy Lane Stables in Cambridge, Ontario.
“He gets tomorrow off, and then he’ll jog a little bit on Thursday and then he’ll qualify on Friday,” said Coleman. “I want to qualify him in 1:55; he’s trained in 1:55.4 coming home a back half in :54 and then a final quarter in :26 and a piece. I’m going to qualify him twice; 1:55 the first time and then probably 1:53 or so the second time. After that I’ll shoot for a three-year-old Open with him and then the Burlington and the North America Cup.”
Art Colony, who was purchased for $157,000 from the 2007 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale by owner Tom Hill of Lancashire, Great Britain, put together a 4-3-0 record from just seven starts as a rookie. And from a dollars and sense point of view it translated into more than $423,000 in earnings - not a bad return on investment.
“There wasn’t much more I could have asked from him as a two-year-old,” Coleman admitted. “The only two times he got beat was in the Breeders Crown where he was parked every step out of the ten-hole and raced his guts out and raced hard. And then in the Governor’s Cup he had a real tough trip and just got beat by Nebupanezzar who raced an unbelievable mile. So if he just keeps doing what he did last year I’ll be happy.
“He always has a few little issues,” she added. “Nothing major, but he keeps you hopping - that’s for sure,” she added. “He’s a temperamental colt, everyone has seen that in the paddock on race nights. We have two to three people to paddock him on race nights; he’s quite a handful. I think we’ve got him geared up for a big season.”
Coleman knows there are a number of other high profile colts out there, and she has a certain degree of respect for them all.
“George Teague has a couple of nice horses out there, and Well Said has turned in a couple of nice qualifiers,” she added. “There’s going to be lots of them pop up when there’s $1.5 million just around the corner in the North America Cup.”