In an online poll conducted in March, only six per cent of respondents said they were looking forward to seeing Here Comes Herbie’s first crop appear on racetracks
this summer, so it is fair to say that the trotting stallion far exceeded expectations when three of his daughters qualified for Friday night’s $130,000 Gold Final at Flamboro Downs.
“Here Comes Herbie may be the hottest new stallion in Ontario,” notes driver Jody Jamieson, who will steer elimination winner and Here Comes Herbie offspring Luvumeanit from Post 4 in the two-year-old trotting filly contest.
Luvumeanit swept down the stretch in her Gold Elimination to a 2:02.3 victory, leading a parade of Here Comes Herbie daughters across the finish line. Both runner-up My Whispering Eye and third-place finisher Honey Thorn are also by the stallion, a half-brother to $3 million winner Donato Hanover who arrived at Tara Hills Stud Farm in 2007 after a two-year racing career that saw him earn $379,616 and take a record of 1:52 winning an elimination of the Hambletonian.
Jamieson steers Luvumeanit for trainer Jeff Gillis of Hillsburgh, ON, breeder Martinez Equine of Wellsville, PA and Helping Hands Stable of Woodbury, IN, and says the filly has done everything right so far.
“The theme at Flamboro in the Gold Elimination was just stay trotting, and she was able to do that and win pretty impressively,” says the Moffat, ON resident. “At the three-quarter pole I was in striking position, so I moved her three-wide and she did what she had to do.”
Gillis readied Luvumeanit for her Ontario Sires Stakes debut with a July 2 qualifier at Mohawk Racetrack, where the filly finished second in a clocking of 2:03.1. In last week’s elimination the novice trotter sat mid-pack through much of the race before laying down a :29.3 final quarter to secure the win. Jamieson expects his strategy will be similar on Friday — ease away from the gate and get the filly into position for a sprint down the stretch.
“The game plan in the Final is to stay trotting and try and be in contention at the three-quarter pole,” says the driver. “The most important thing is to stay trotting around the first turn, and the rest will work itself out.”
Jamieson looked at a variety of Here Comes Herbie offspring at last fall’s yearling sales, and based on that experience and what he has seen of the horse’s earliest two-year-olds, the driver says Luvumeanit is what might be considered a typical example of the stallion’s progeny.
“Luvumeanit is a little bigger than medium and, typical of Here Comes Herbies, she is long, long in the barrel. He really seems to stamp his horses that way,” says Jamieson. “And she seems to have a good demeanour on the racetrack.”
While the horseman has been nothing but impressed with Luvumeanit, he admits that he will still be crossing his fingers heading into Friday’s lucrative Gold Final, knowing that the chances of something going awry are significant in any two-year-old event.
“At this point she has shown that she is perfectly gaited, and I’ll have my fingers crossed that she doesn’t show anything different than that,” he explains.
“There are so many different variables that are going to come into play this week,” he adds. “It’s a wait and see kind of thing.”
The other elimination winner, Peach Martini, will make her bid for the lion’s share of the $130,000 Gold Final purse from Post 1. Oakville, ON resident Rick Zeron will steer the Striking Sahbra daughter for his partners Michael Katz of Thornhill, ON, Stephen Waldman of Toronto, ON and Rojan Stables of Wilmington, DE. Peach Martini was a 2:02.1 winner last week, hitting the wire one length up on her competition.
Flamboro Downs raises the curtain on its Friday, July 23 program at 6 p.m., and turns the spotlight onto the two-year-old trotting fillies in Race 3.
(O.S.S.)
To view Friday’s entries, click here.