Hanover Raceway is a week away from drawing the eliminations for the $100,000 Dream of Glory trot. Eighty-eight horses are eligible to enter into the event, and the Dreaming of Glory features profile some of the contenders heading into the eliminations. On Monday, Hanover Raceway started off with a look at the Kadabra gelding Cold Certified.
Last year’s Balanced Image Trot co-champion trainer Mike Keeling has his own son of Kadabra eligible and ready for this year’s Dream of Glory. It was a learning progress with Our Mojo, both for the colt and his connections.
Keeling conditions the gelding, who was purchased as part of the Standardbred Breeders of Ontario Association’s new owners mentoring program. He admitted there were some early struggles with the horse’s maturity, but for the nine owners, “it’s been a fun project for all involved. It’s their very first foray into horse racing.”
So far in 2012, Our Mojo is perfect in two Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots starts, good enough to lead all Grassroots competitors in the three-year old trotting colt division. In 2011, Our Mojo went winless in five starts, but has been impressive in his sophomore campaign. In eight races, he has two wins, two seconds and one third, racking up $35,785 in purse earnings for the ownership at the Caveator Stable, which is based in Hamilton, Ont. Our Mojo took his lifetime mark of 1:57.4 while competing over Mohawk Racetrack in his first OSS start of 2012 (May 21).
Our Mojo - OSS Grassroots (Mohawk, May 21) - 1:57.4
Keeling has a Balanced Image trophy on his resume from Strike The Cheque’s dead-heat, record-setting performance last year, and he’d surely like to add a Dream of Glory title this season. On that note, Keeling admitted “it’d be nice." He went on to state that "anytime you can win, whether you share it or not, is good. Hanover is kind of like home for me so it’s always a thrill. I love racing there and the people are great.”
Keeling is confident Our Mojo’s best is yet to come, despite some earlier concerns.
“I was hesitant to race him on a half-mile track since he’s such a big horse, but there were no issues in Grand River (Grand River Raceway) so that was great.”
In regard to the competition in the Dream of Glory, including track record holder The Golden Child, Keeling added, “I think he’ll be a player for sure. We have to keep our eyes open to some of the horses, but he should be able to compete.”
(Hanover)
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