Coming off an impressive showing in their Ontario Sires Stakes debut, the talented two-year-old trotting colts return to Kawartha Downs on Thursday, July 14 for the first $130,000 Gold final battle of their fledgling careers
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Prized Fighter was a 1:57.3 victor last week, laying down the fastest clocking of the three eliminations, and trainer Jeff Gillis is expecting the Duke Of York son to be just as good Thursday.
“He’s got so much natural ability,” says the Hillsburgh resident, who shares ownership of the gelding with breeder Al Libfeld of Pickering and Steven Kazman of Thornhill. “We’re very happy with him.”
Prized Fighter was victorious in a pair of early season qualifiers at Mohawk Racetrack, circling the Campbellville oval in 2:01.4 on June 11 and 2:02 on June 28. Gillis says the youngster was easy to teach and always demonstrated ability on the racetrack, but had a few issues with his behaviour around the barn.
“He’s was a homebred of one of my partners, Al Libfeld. I first saw him last spring in Kentucky and liked him then and he’s kind of acted like a good horse right from the get-go,” says Gillis, who started working with the youngster last fall. “He’s very good-gaited, sure-footed.
“He used to have a little bit of behavioral issues and so I had to geld him,” he adds. “He’s close to perfect now, and he was really just like rough and harmful to himself.”
Anthony MacDonald piloted Prized Fighter to his three and one-quarter length elimination win last week, but regular reinsman Jody Jamieson returns to the race bike for Thursday’s Gold Final, sending the gelding after his share of the $130,000 purse from Post 3. The other elimination winners, Heres The Magic and Majestic Image, will start from Posts 5 and 8 respectively.
While Gillis is expecting a strong performance from his charge, he hopes all nine colts get off to a smooth start in Race 6 and are able to show off their skills in front of the Kawartha Downs fans.
“With young trotters you just want to avoid trouble early on,” comments the trainer. “He’s very versatile, and he’s got decent gate speed.”
With the speed they demonstrated in their debut, the freshman trotting colts could threaten the Kawartha Downs track record of 1:57.1 and the Ontario Sires Stakes record of 1:56.
Post time at Kawartha Downs on Thursday, July 14 is 4 p.m., with the gifted young trotters facing off in Race 6.
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To view entries for Thursday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Thursday Entries – Kawartha Downs.