The 2009 Hambletonian was a learning experience for Jeff Gillis.
He finished ninth in the race with his stable star Federal Flex, but the Ontario-based trainer could get another shot at Hambletonian glory this year
with Hes A Demon. The colt will leave from Post 7 in the second of three $70,000 eliminations on the Saturday night card at Meadowlands Racetrack. The top three finishers in each elim, plus the richest fourth, will advance to the $1.5 million Hambletonian final on August 7. The Hambletonian elims are carded as Races 4, 5 and 6 on the Saturday card. A trio of elims for the $750,000 Hambletonian Oaks for fillies precedes them.
"I think at the time we were grasping for answers about Federal Flex," Gillis said of the colt's Hambletonian bid last year. "I believe it was strictly sickness and airway-related. He never really regained his form after that. It might have hurt him because we didn't have the discipline to scratch him out of the Hambletonian. It was possible I got caught up in the hoopla of just being in the race. You don't know if you're ever going to get a chance to be in it again. Certainly, if we knew the outcome, we would have scratched him. He had rebounded before from health issues, but this time it just asked too much of him.
"He had all the right attributes to be a potential top stallion prospect, and none of that has changed," Gillis continued. "His offspring aren't going to know his three-year-old season tailed off. He's standing at Seelster Farms in Ontario with a full book of mares."
While Federal Flex raced exclusively on the stakes circuit, the Hambletonian only recently entered into the picture for Hes A Demon.
"It was only a last minute decision to try this," Gillis said. "When we started him this year we were going to just bring him along slowly. We have the Canadian Trotting Classic in September. He progressed a little bit quicker than we expected. We were watching what the competition was doing and how we thought he'd fit. Two weeks before the Stanley Dancer, we figured we'd take a shot at this. You've got to dream the dream.
"We've drawn Post 7 against Holiday Road and Lucky Chucky," he continued. "The post doesn't really bother me. You'd like to draw into a soft elimination, but if we can't make the final, then we probably don't deserve to be there."
Like Federal Flex, Hes A Demon won his Stanley Dancer Memorial division, the last major prep for the Hambletonian at the Meadowlands. Driven by Jody Jamieson, he posted a career-best 1:53.1, the fastest clocking among the trio of Dancer winners. Hes A Demon picked up his fourth win this season in what was his first career stakes effort and first start outside his home province.
"We were pleased with the way he rallied to win in the Dancer," Gillis said. "I think that's the product of going by some maidens and non-winners of two types up here [in Canada]. He was brimming with confidence and that certainly helped him. Jody [driver Jody Jamieson] drives him well, and knows the colt likes passing horses.
"The simple way to describe Hes A Demon is comparing him to Federal Flex," Gillis continued. "They're like polar opposites. Flex was a fluid, graceful, refined and polished individual. He's A Demon is a whole bunch of raw ability that needs to be held together. We paid $180,000 for him at Harrisburg and he's a May 21 foal. He had a fantastic video and we didn't think we would have to pay nearly that much. Sometimes we get hung up on buying a specific horse, one that we like, and we pursue them. We just didn't want to be the under bidder on this one."
Hes A Demon did not make his career debut until mid-September last year. He went winless in three starts and was scratched from his Breeders Crown elimination at Woodbine.
"There was no one specific thing and it was kind of a reach anyway,' Gillis said of the decision. "We had qualified him the day before the draw in 2:00, last quarter in :27, before we had to make a decision. He had come out of it a little bit achy in different spots. He just wasn't ready, so we forfeited the starting fee. He's had a growthy, immature look to him all along, but he's kind of found himself. I don't think he's there yet. He'll be a better late [season] three-year-old, and even four-year-old, if everything holds together."
While Hes A Demon enters the Hambletonian eliminations an impressive four-for-six slate, Gillis continues to work on the colt's soundness and shoeing. Gillis, 42, has a 30-horse stabled at Ideal Training Centre in Acton, about 20 minutes from Mohawk Racetrack.
"I'm very fortunate going back and forth to Canada to have Kevin McDermott and Steve Elliott lending a helping hand and advice," he said. "We've tinkered with him a little bit and we're on the right track. Some of it is a little bit of soundness and we hope to get it all rectified. He rolled into a break right after the wire [in the Stanley Dancer], and I think he was just tired. He's basically been dropping a second [in time] every start, and it's harder for a horse to get to the wire faster than he's ever gone and have the bit in their mouth. He was fully extended and as honest as he could be to stay trotting in the stretch. We were fortunate to get to the wire first."
(Meadowlands Racetrack)