After a weekend filled with stakes winners, trainer Jeff Gillis will look to keep that momentum going and add the coveted Gold Cup & Saucer to his resume with pacing powerhouse Mystician.
A four-year-old son of Camluck from the Dexter Nukes mare Mystic Mistress, Mystician already boasts the 2010 Metro Pace to his credit as well as the 2011 Upper Canada Cup and multiple Ontario Sires Stakes Gold finals. With 13 wins and over $1.7 million in the bank, Mystician will be one of the likely favourites heading into the PEI classic and heads into the race fresh off a 1:51.1 win at Kawartha Downs in that track's 40th Anniversary Pace.
"We took Ramonne back in 2003 and I'm from the Maritimes so it's always in the back of my mind each year if we have a candidate," said Gillis. "We almost took one last year. It's something that we want to do, a couple of my co-owners would like to do it."
Co-owned along with Ken Henwood of Mississauga, Mac Nichol of Burlington and Gerald Stay of Buffalo, N.Y., Gillis noted that the timing is right to take Mystician this year.
"With Mystician being four, we hope that next year he contends with the big boys like in the Canadian Pacing Derby and races like that. For his four-year-old year, we've lightly staked him, and we thought it was the right time to take a trip out East and have a little fun. You have to try to soak up the good times a little bit in this game because there are many more down times."
In 50 lifetime starts, Mystician has only four starts over a half-mile track. That limited experience over the half is of no concern for Canada's reigning Trainer of the Year but he does reveal Mystician's Achilles heel.
"He was second in the Confederation Cup at Flamboro and he was second in the Battle of Waterloo. He'll get over any size track. The only thing that holds Mystician back is hot weather. He doesn't seem to enjoy the heat that much so I'm hoping it will be cool that week."
Trials for the Sobey's Gold Cup & Saucer are set for Saturday, August 11 and Monday, August 13, with the final on Saturday, August 18. Gillis' friend and Mystician's regular driver Jody Jamieson could be in the bike for the 2012 edition as the race is one he's always wanted to win. According to Gillis, "the drive is his if he wants it."