Sleep has become a rare commodity in the Zorgwijk Kingpin camp since the two-year-old trotting colt qualified for Sunday’s $130,000 Gold final with an impressive elimination win at Mohawk Racetrack last weekend
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"I’m sure they’re having some sleepless nights," says trainer Ron MacLean of his fellow owners Murray Neilson, Scot Wood and Joseph Serratore of London, Ont. "Two of them didn’t sleep Sunday night, or so they said."
Zorgwijk Kingpin and regular reinsman Jason Brewer delivered an impressive effort up the outside in last week’s elimination round to reach the wire in 1:57.1 — a full second faster than the other elimination winners. The victory was the gelding’s first, and landed the partners in a place none of them had ever visited.
"The other two guys (Scot and Joseph) never had nothing race at Mohawk, and Murray, he’s been in the business for 30 years and this was the first time he’s ever had a Gold victory, and it was my first Gold, too," explains MacLean.
"They were never expecting it, when I offered it to them in January, that they’d be standing in the Mohawk winner’s circle," adds the Ingersoll, Ont. resident.
Before January MacLean had found it hard to picture Zorgwijk Kingpin racing, let alone winning. Purchased from the Forest City Yearling Sale for $3,700, the son of Southwind Lustre and Zorgwijk Amarillis seemed unbreakable through the first month of his tenure in MacLean’s barn.
"We had trouble breaking him, he wanted to lay down," relates MacLean. "We’d go a sixteenth of a mile and he’d be up and down like 10 times, he’d lay down with the cart on him.
"He hated his work very early. You’d put the harness on in his stall and he’d come out of it on his back feet, striking," the horseman continues. "I said, ‘I’m not wrestling with him, we’ll cut him, give him a couple weeks off, then play with him until Christmas and get serious the first of the year.’"
Zorgwijk Kingpin was castrated in November, and by January MacLean had a horse he was excited about showing to his future partners.
"It was like night and day. He walked out of his stall the first time we put the harness back on him and he’s never done one thing wrong to this day. You’d never know it was the same horse," says MacLean.
"I bought him myself and pieced him out in January. It was hard to say, ‘come out and watch the colt go,’ when he’s laying down on the track," adds the horseman.
Once he started to move forward, Zorgwijk Kingpin made steady progress, aided by MacLean’s veteran trotter Nasty Dream. Working alongside the winner of $123,191, Zorgwijk Kingpin displayed more than his share of grit, and as the tempo of their workouts increased, MacLean started to think the youngster might one day outshine his tutor.
"Every time his foot hits the track, it’s like he’s spring loaded. He’s very fluid, very light on his feet," explains MacLean. "He never struggled all winter. The faster we trained him down, the better gaited he got."
MacLean qualified the colt on July 31 at Flamboro Downs, and Zorgwijk Kingpin circled the half-mile oval in 2:06.2. The flashy chestnut gelding made his debut in the Aug. 9 Gold Eliminations at Flamboro Downs, finishing one and a quarter lengths behind winner Pointe To Pointe in fourth. On Aug. 17 the gelding got his first look at Mohawk Racetrack in a non-winners event, finishing second by six and three-quarter lengths in a 1:57.2 mile.
In last week’s elimination Brewer and Zorgwijk Kingpin advanced first-over, reaching the front just past the three-quarters and then holding off a late challenge from Reach Higher.
"Jason gets off the bike last Sunday and says, ‘that’s the best he’s been again,’" recalls MacLean. "He wins in 1:57.1 and it’s the best he’s trotted yet."
MacLean knows the point will come when Zorgwijk Kingpin reaches a plateau in his speed and ability, but the veteran horseman hopes the fun can last a little longer. Brewer will do his best to cause another sleepless night from Post 8 in Sunday’s $130,000 Gold final, the fifth race on Mohawk Racetrack’s 7:30 p.m. program.
"It’s all kind of a fun thing right now," says MacLean. "That’s what we’re all in it for."
Click here to view Mohawk's harness racing entries for Sunday.
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