A perfect trip from an outside post earned Ill Wait For You her first sophomore Gold Elimination trophy at Mohawk Racetrack last week, but driver Trevor Ritchie knows a repeat performance will be tough to orchestrate
from Post 9 in Friday’s $130,000 Gold Final.
“It would be the perfect set up again this week, but I’m not sure that will happen,” says the Acton resident ruefully.
Starting from Post 8 in last week’s elimination, Ritchie and Ill Wait For You drafted along behind Simply Stirling through most of the mile, and then circled out three-wide around the final turn before trotting home to a four and one-half length victory in a personal best 1:55.4.
A winner of three Gold Eliminations and one Gold Final at two, Ill Wait For You started her sophomore campaign with a victory at the Grassroots level. She made the leap back into the Gold Series fray at Georgian Downs on July 4, but finished sixth from Post 7, one of four outside posts she has landed in her six starts this season.
“She doesn’t draw very well,” says Ritchie, who drives the filly for trainer Dan Creighton and his partners in the Danterra Racing Stable of Strathroy. “I’ve raced her basically in every way.”
Ritchie adds that the filly has taken a few starts to regain all the skills that earned her $221,820 as a two-year-old, and also seems to be coping with a heightened level of moodiness.
“Last year, as a two-year-old, for some reason, she seemed to be a little handier. This year she hasn’t been as handy,” he explains. “She’s fairly good to drive; she just has her little quirks that you’ve got to work with.
“It really all depends on how she feels when the gate folds,” he adds. “You’re really kind of at the mercy of her whims.”
Over the next three days Ritchie will analyse the race and try and map out a trip that will take I’ll Wait For You from Post 9 to the winner’s circle, but the veteran reinsman admits that flexibility has to be the backbone of any race strategy.
“You’re trying to map out the trip that the race is likely going to land you. And if you don’t like that trip, you might try to alter things,” says the trotting specialist. “A lot of the time the things that you map out don’t turn out. When you are going for $130,000 lots of things will happen that you couldn’t anticipate, so you kind of adjust.”
Coming off three solid outings over the Mohawk oval - last week’s victory, a fifth from Post 10 in the July 25 Canadian Breeders Championship, and a second in the July 17 Canadian Breeders Elimination — Ritchie is hopeful that Ill Wait For you has found her stride.
“She’s raced and finished pretty good her last two or three starts, so hopefully she’s coming into this race in fine form,” says the driver.
The Kadabra daughter will have to be in fine fettle to tackle the talented field of sophomore trotting lasses from Post 9. The other elimination winner, Friendly Amigo, will start from Post 4 in the eighth race for trainer-driver Blair Burgess of Campbellville.
(OSS)
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