By the time Ja El Express heads in behind the starting gate for his $40,000 Gold elimination at Mohawk Racetrack on Thursday evening, the two-year-old trotting colt
will have been in trainer Jeff Gillis’ care for barely two weeks.
“I haven’t really got to know him yet,” admits Gillis, a resident of Guelph, Ont. “We trained him in 2:03 on Friday there at Mohawk, and we’ve just been tinkering with him a little bit. I’ll have a better gauge after we’ve raced him.”
Gillis and partner Ken Henwood of Mississauga, Ont. purchased the Kadabra son after Ja El Express lit up stopwatches on the Mohawk backstretch during a June 22 qualifier. In rein to former trainer Fred Jamieson, the young trotter spun off a 2:01 mile, sprinting home in :27.3, and reaching the wire 10 lengths ahead of his peers.
“That was a pretty flashy qualifier,” says Gillis. “He trotted in 2:01 flat, with a last quarter in :27.3, and from what I understand it was only his second time off the farm since the yearling sale. That’s pretty special for a young trotter to be that poised.”
Jamieson, a resident of Putnam, Ont., and his partner Renato Confortin of London, Ont., had purchased the colt from last fall’s Canadian Open Yearling Sale for $17,000. Jamieson taught Ja El Express his early lessons and made the June 22 trip to Mohawk ready to show the colt’s skills off to potential buyers. The colt’s obvious ability appealed to Gillis and Henwood, who had been looking for an Ontario-sired horse to add to their arsenal.
“Ken and I talked about looking for a good two-year-old,” recalls Gillis, noting that the pair was not hunting specifically for a trotter. “It just happened he was a trotter. We didn’t have any kind of OSS horse; that was a void to fill.”
Among Ja El Express’ new stablemates is Federal Flex, a three-year-old American-bred trotting colt who earned over $560,000 last season and boasts a flawless record in his first two sophomore starts. While Federal Flex hit all the prestige races last season and is among the favourites for this year’s Hambletonian, Ja El Express will have a much more subdued schedule.
“We’re mainly focused on the OSS. We’ll probably race him eight to 10 times, hopefully try to put him away in good order and have a horse for next year,” says Gillis, adding that the colt’s stakes engagements were determined last winter by Jamieson and Confortin.
During the young trotter’s brief residence in the Gillis stable, what has impressed the trainer most are the colt’s brains and speed.
“He’s a pretty smart colt, very willing, a great attitude,” notes the horseman. “He has a ton of foot, that quick turn of foot would be one of his strengths.”
That turn of foot has already secured Ja El Express his first victory, a 2:04 triumph from Post 7 at Flamboro Downs in a division of the Bud Light Stakes on July 4. Driver Jody Jamieson engineered the Bud Light victory and will be back in the race bike for Thursday’s contest, steering Ja El Express from Post 2 in the second race. The pair will face off against a field of nine that includes another Bud Light division winner, Pointe To Pointe, who will start from Post 6 for trainer/driver Wayne Henry.
“It’s a little early to get excited,” says Gillis. “We are just kind of cautiously optimistic right now.”
The owners and trainers of the other 30 colts entered in Thursday’s Gold elimination are also optimistic that their charge will secure a berth in next week’s $130,000 Gold final. The top three finishers from each elimination, plus one fourth-place finisher drawn by lot, will earn a return invitation to the Campbellville oval.
First race post time for Thursday’s showdown is 7:30 p.m., with the two-year-old trotting colts waging their first provincial battles in Races 2, 3 and 6.
To view Mohawk Racetrack's harness racing entries for Thursday, July 16, click here.
(OSS)