It’s no secret that trainer Ben Wallace can condition champions. In 1999 the Milton resident trained the Pacing Triple Crown winner, Blissfull Hall, who was voted Canada's Horse of the Year and banked $1,468,648 in
lifetime earnings.
Wallace, the 1999 O'Brien Award recipient for Canada’s Trainer of the Year, also conditioned the likes of Camotion ($1,912,122), Zooka ($1,363,813) and Totally Western ($648,364), just to name a few.
Now, Wallace is hoping his three-year-old pacer, Bettors Green, can become his next big star. The journey begins this Saturday in The Diplomat Stakes elimination.
"He was a terrific two-year-old training down, right from the day we put a harness on him, he was a true professional. He was the easiest horse to train down you could ask for," Wallace said of the colt who was a $10,000 purchase from the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale.
The son of Bettors Delight didn't provide Wallace with any thrills last season, but the two-time winner scored a lifetime best of 1:53.2 at Mohawk, which caught Wallace's eye.
"That night wasn't the best for racing," he added. "The track was off and the conditions weren't the best and he ran off the screen with a :27-flat final quarter. It was an eye-catching performance to say the least."
Being a New York Sires Stake eligible, Wallace sent his charge to the care of U.S. trainer Linda Toscano. Bettors Green raced in two NYSS events at Yonkers Raceway, however, both attempts were unsuccessful when the colt made two consecutive breaks.
“To this day, I have no idea why he made those two breaks in New York. He's never done that before in his life and when I got him back, he never did it again."
Wallace shows enough praise in his young pupil that he has kept him eligible to the $1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup and other major stakes events this season.
"We kept him eligible to the 'Cup' and other stakes because I just don't know how good he is,” he said. “He does show signs of being a terrific horse, but he might not be the 'A' horse this year. If not, he'll be a nice New York Sires Stakes horse.
"The Diplomat Stakes will be a good test for him on Saturday,” said Wallace. “There are some nice horses in there and he's going to have to be on his game."
Bettors Green will leave from post six in the second of two The Diplomat Stakes eliminations, which will go as the ninth race on May 7. Mario Baillargeon will be at the reins.
Saturday’s card, which gets underway at 7:55 p.m., features a $100,000 guaranteed pool Pick-4 wager which gets underway in Race 4.
(WEG)
To view entries for Saturday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Saturday Entries – Woodbine Racetrack.