Kawartha Downs will be the site of the Gold Series season opener for the two-year-old trotting colts, playing host to three $40,000 eliminations on Thursday evening
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Trainer John Bax will start two colts over his local oval and the Peterborough resident is hoping Six Bax and Summer Indian put forth a solid effort in their first lifetime starts.
“I think everybody’s in the same boat; first you want them to stay at it, and then secondly you hope they can go enough to get in the final,” says the trotting specialist.
Six Bax will lead off for the Bax Stable, starting from Post 7 in the first $40,000 Gold Elimination. The son of Kadabra and Bax Machine was a $35,000 purchase out of the Harrisburg Yearling Sale, and Bax says the gelding was fairly straightforward to work with through the winter months.
“He’s just a big strong colt and we always had high hopes for him,” says the horseman, who shares ownership of the young trotter with Betty Bax of Kitchener. “We had Fax Machine out of that family so we know they’re willing to race, they try.”
Fax Machine was conditioned through his $601,007 career by the trainer and his brother Russell Bax of Port Hope, so offspring from the trotter’s half-sister have always merited a second look at the fall yearling sales. It was the cross with Kadabra and the colt’s conformation that led to the bid on Six Bax last November.
“He reminded me a bit of his uncle Fax Machine, he was a big strong horse,” notes Bax. “This guy, he’s likely got more growing to do, but he’s already a strong horse.”
A half-brother to two $200,000-plus winners, Six Bax prepped for his OSS debut with a June 25 qualifying race at Mohawk Racetrack. With Paul MacDonell in the race bike, the gelding reached the wire one length ahead of his peers in a 2:03 clocking over a track rated one second slower than normal.
MacDonell will be back in the race bike behind Six Bax on Thursday, but the Oshawa native passed on the drive aboard Summer Indian, opting instead for Ben Wallace trainee San Pietro from Post 5. As a result, Kirkfield resident Fred Brethour will steer Summer Indian from Post 6 in the last Gold Elimination, and Bax is looking forward to seeing how the colt measures up against his peers after qualifying in mixed company at Kawartha on June 18, where he finished second with a 2:02.4 effort. Bax says the son of former Ontario Sires Stakes superstar Majestic Son and A Touch Of Frost has been exceeding expectations from the start.
“He’s the yearling I paid the least for and got there first,” Bax notes. “He’s a little small; he’s a small-medium I call him now, but so far he’s just done everything you ask of him. I don’t know where that will lead us, I mean, usually a good big one will beat a good little one, but it’s close to home and he qualified really well over this track, so maybe we’ll have a little bit of an advantage.”
Bax’s Parkhill Stud Farm, John Hayes of Sharon and John Houston of Cobourg share ownership on Summer Indian, a half-brother to $757,044 winner Donven Promise who was a modest $10,000 purchase from the Canadian Open Yearling Sale last fall. Both Summer Indian and Six Bax will be looking for a top three finish on Thursday in order to earn a spot on the gate in the July 14 Gold Final.
The two-year-old trotting colts will flex their fledgling muscles in Races 2, 4 and 6 on Thursday, with Kawartha Downs sending its first race behind the starting gate at 4 p.m.
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To view entries for Thursday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Thursday Entries – Kawartha Downs.