Horse Wins After Three-Year Layoff

After making just his eighth start in the last five years, 13-year-old Blazing Sakra made his return to the racetrack in a big way in January 9 at The Raceway at the Western Fair District.

A son of Bettors Delight - Sakra Beauty, Blazing Sakra had last started in a pari-mutuel event on October 17, 2015 at Kawartha Downs. In that season, he made eight starts and managed two second-place efforts. But that 2015 campaign came after making no starts during the 2014 season and just three appearances in 2013.

Owned by Maria Chlapak of Terra Cotta, Ont., Blazing Sakra is trained by Frederick Bourgault and is back in-to-go on Wednesday (January 16) at Western Fair. Bourgault told Trot Insider that the idea of bringing Blazing Sakra back as a racehorse was not the plan of the owner as much as it was a testament to the horse's attitude and resilience.

"The owner, Maria, just started to have racehorses. She had that horse as a pet," said Bourgault. "He was injured a few years ago and she's been taking care of him and riding him. She came to me with the idea of trying to race him. So I said I'd give him a try and we'll see how it goes.

"We started jogging him and I started training him down, and he was doing that good and he was sound but I said 'we'll go week by week.'

Week by week, Blazing Sakra showed Bourgault he still had the ability of pacer that took a mark of 1:51.1 at Woodbine Racetrack in 2011.

"He was ready to train when I got him, so it took me about three months to get him ready...[Maria] said 'he's ready to train' and she was right. she didn't decide that in two days, saying 'OK, let's race the horse,' she took her time and did an amazing job.

"I always trained him and whenever I trained him he wanted to go faster; once you train them, you know if you have a good horse or a bad horse and the first time I sat behind him I knew he was a good horse."

Blazing Sakra returned to the track at the end of 2018 with a qualifier at Flamboro Downs.

"He was ready to qualify, and he qualified very good," said Bourgault of the qualifying win in 2:02.4. "He didn't go fast, but he came home strong. My good friend Brett MacDonald qualified him and after he said 'that ol' horse is ready'. So I waited a bit, trained him back at the farm and put him in the box."

Drawing post six in a field of nine $7,000 claiming pacers on January 9 in an added-distance event at Western Fair, Blazing Sakra was understandibly settled away near the back of the pack early by driver Scott Coulter. The veteran driver was looking for a strong finishing effort, and the veteran pacer benefitted from brisk early fractions that set up perfectly for a horse to close.

The 'brush and crush' from Coulter and Blazing Sakra was jaw-droppingly impressive. After spotting the field some 13-plus lengths at the half-mile point, Coulter sent Blazing Sakra four- and then five-wide down the backstretch to be situated with the pacesetters around the final turn before pulling away to win by more than two lengths.

"I was shocked he won but I knew he would race good, because they went such a big half so I thought he'd have a good chance but I never thought he would circle them like that. It was pretty impressive and I'm pretty happy with the old man."

Bourgault, a 20-year-old native of Quebec now residing in Guelph, Ont., recently completed his first full season with his own stable and posted solid numbers. Sending out 153 starters, Bourgault boasted 29 winners and a 0.320 UTRS. He got his early lessons in horsemanship from his uncle, Serge Nadeau, before coming to Ontario nearly three years ago and working for award-winning stables the likes of Ben Baillargeon and Scott McEneny.

"It's my first year with my trainer's license but we've had a lot of those kinds of horses in Quebec, and my uncle is very good with those older horses to bring them back to the races, but I've never seen an old horse like him. He's like cement. He's a strong, beautiful horse."