Three-year-old trotting colt Pointe Of Honour has such dismal luck that trainer Paula Wellwood’s expectations for his 2009 Ontario Sires Stakes debut at Mohawk Racetrack on Saturday are so low as to be non-existent
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“I hope we have better luck, but I can honestly say I won’t be surprised if something does go wrong. I’ve come to expect that with him,” says the Cambridge resident, laughing.
Last season’s Super Final champion, Pointe Of Honour opened his season two months ago, cruising to an effortless 1:58.3 qualifying win over the Mohawk oval on May 22. Six days later the son of Striking Sahbra and Garland Bonita ran out of gas in a non-winners of two event at Mohawk and a post race check up revealed an inflamed throat.
“He didn’t race up to par, compared to the way he had trained and qualified,” recalls Wellwood, who shares ownership on Pointe Of Honour with driver Paul MacDonell of Guelph. “When we scoped him that night his throat was red, you could see something was coming, but the next day the swelling was unbelievable.
“The virus attacked his throat, it literally closed over. I haven’t had a horse that sick in a lot of years,” she adds.
Fortunately Pointe Of Honour was able to fight off the infection, but it was mid-July before Wellwood felt the colt was ready to race. On July 12 the young trotter returned to the non-winner of two races class at Mohawk, delivering the kind of mile Wellwood and MacDonell had expected on May 28.
“We were very pleased with his race when he came back from the sickness,” says Wellwood of the trotter’s runner-up finish in a 1:56.4 mile. “He went a very big, noble trip.”
With that effort under the colt’s belt, Wellwood and MacDonell turned their focus to the Canadian Breeders Championship Eliminations on July 18. Pointe Of Honour drew the trailing Post 11 and spent the entire mile parked on the outside; circling so far out at the three-quarter pole that MacDonell could have shaken hands with fans along the outer rail.
His fifth-place finish in the elimination earned Pointe Of Honour a berth in the July 25 Canadian Breeders Championship Final, but once again the colt was handicapped by post position, landing the outside Post 10. Then, compounding his bad luck, the young trotter got caught up in a mishap at the halfway marker that Wellwood still marvels did not result in injury to one of the horses or drivers involved.
“I watched it back when I got home, and I don’t know how they didn’t go down,” says Wellwood. “Sylvain Filion’s horse (Winning Mister) almost went down, he picked him up, and Paul (MacDonell) went over top of him.”
Pointe Of Honour came out of the encounter with some stiffness, but a visit from the equine chiropractor seemed to set the trotter to rights and Wellwood hopes he will be ready to take advantage of the first positive sign he has encountered since May 28.
“He has the four-hole, which is a plus. It’s the first time there’s been a plus this year,” says Wellwood, wryly. “The horse is okay, he is good.
“It’s just been one thing after another with him, and he was like that last year,” she adds. “But he’s got a great demeanour. He keeps coming back. He wants to do it.”
If Pointe Of Honour and MacDonell can catch a break from Post 4 in the first $40,000 Gold Elimination, Wellwood is confident that the colt can show off the skills that earned him a Super Final title at two.
Post time for Mohawk Racetrack’s Saturday evening program is 7:30 p.m., with Pointe Of Honour and his peers battling for a top five finish in Race 2, and the second Gold Elimination going postward in Race 5.
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