Post 10 at Mohawk Racetrack is no trainer’s idea of a picnic, but if that’s where fate lands you, as it did two-year-old trotting colt Plato in Monday’s $130,000 Gold Final, Trevor Ritchie is not a bad guy to have in the race bike
Ritchie has engineered more than one big event win from the outer rail, including a Super Final triumph for sophomore trotting colt I Wont Dance last November, and figures the post is just one more piece of the puzzle he will have to put together on Monday.
“I’m fairly familiar with it, unfortunately,” says Ritchie wryly. “I’ve won races out of the 10-hole before, it can be done.
“It should be a very interesting race,” adds the Acton, ON resident. “You never know with these babies — how far they’ll go, how some are going to behave. They are a real puzzle, especially early in their careers.”
The first piece of this particular puzzle fell into place when Ritchie landed the drive on Plato. Neither of the colt’s former pilots — Steve Condren and Mike Saftic — were available when trainer Greg Johnson got ready to name a driver for the elimination, so he turned to trotting specialist Ritchie. After consulting with Johnson and his colleagues, Ritchie eased the young trotter off the starting gate and then urged him up the rail to a head victory in 1:58.
“Greg had said he’s not 100 per cent foolproof, for the first little part of the mile he’s a bit iffy, and he was right on the money, I was holding my breath for a while,” recalls Ritchie. “Then after that he’s usually good, which he was.
“I talked to both Steve and Mike about him before the race, so I was sort of semi-prepared, I guess you could say.”
Once the pair passed the eighth pole Ritchie says Plato settled into an easy rhythm, and knew just what to do when Ritchie asked him to sneak through the gap left by pacesetter Whatabout Tom in the stretch.
“He was very impressive. He went a pretty good mile and he was not a tired horse at the end,” notes Ritchie.
“He’s a very good size, above average height and also very strong,” adds the veteran reinsman. “He’s put together well. He’s a good looking horse.”
Milton, ON residents Greg and George Johnson purchased Plato from Overseas Farm Ltd. in March of this year. After getting a few schooling sessions from Condren, the son of Andover Image and Pom Derable qualified at Mohawk on June 25, sprinting home to a three-quarter length victory in 2:02.4 with Saftic in the race bike. Condren was committed to Bob McIntosh trainee Put Your Dukes Up in the elimination, while Saftic was at Grand River Raceway finishing second in a two-year-old pacing filly Gold Final.
“That left the door open for somebody, and I was that somebody,” explains Ritchie. “I was in the right place at the right time.”
Post 10 might not be considered the right place for a Gold Final trophy bid with a two-year-old trotting colt, but Ritchie is not counting Plato out. The race offers a host of early race strategies with the other elimination winners landing Post 7 (Holy Kadabra) and Post 8 (Buckhams Bay), while a couple of pacesetters from the elimination round are on the inside, Blazin Benny at Post 1 and Whatabout Tom at Post 4.
“It depends on whatever everyone else does inside me, and on how he’s behaving,” says Ritchie of his intentions. “But I’m not planning to be last.”
The $130,000 freshman trotting colt skirmish is Race 5 on Mohawk Racetrack’s Monday evening program, which gets under way at 7:20 p.m.
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To view Monday’s entries, click here.