by Keith McCalmont, WEG Communications

Campbellville, ON — Mister Herbie, a two-time O’Brien Award winner, will make his third appearance in the Maple Leaf Trot this Saturday night (July 19) at Mohawk Racetrack.

Owned and trained by Jeff Gillis, the 6-year-old millionaire son of Here Comes Herbie is overlooked on the morning line at odds of 15-1 with favored Sebastian K a decisive 2-5 mutuel favorite, capturing most of the attention.

However, it was only two years ago that Mister Herbie, sent to post at 8-1, upset the heavily-favored Chapter Seven to win the Maple Leaf Trot with a strong stretch run in a stakes and track record clocking of 1:50.4.

“I’d take a repeat of that,” grinned Gillis.

Stepping up against Sebastian K, the world’s fastest trotter (1:49), on Saturday, Gillis knows that Mister Herbie will have to be at his best. In 2012, Chapter Seven was a well-backed favorite, but certainly not as touted as Sebastian K.

New Image Media photo

Mister Herbie captured the 2012 Maple Leaf Trot at Mohawk Racetrack in a track and stakes record clocking of 1:50.4.

“It’s not to the same extent,” agreed Gillis. “Sebastian K looks fairly invincible when you can leave as hard as he can, and then come some pretty wicked back halves.

“It’s pretty hard to figure out a strategy to beat that. But, that’s why we run the race. Favorites go down. Horses are not machines and they can come up with a less than 100 percent performance. Someone could take a run at him.”

Mister Herbie is lightly raced this campaign. He made his qualifying debut by trotting home a dominant 15 length winner in 1:55.3 on June 6, his first start since an even effort at Meadowlands Racetrack in late November.

He’s posted a trio of second-place finishes since that qualifier, including a runner-up effort to Market Share in last week’s elimination, the very rival Mister Herbie chased home in the 2013 edition of the Maple Leaf Trot.

Gillis was intent on giving his champion gelding some time off this winter following a year in which Mister Herbie won just once, yet still banked $486,720 in purse earnings thanks to six runner-up finishes in stakes competition.

“He spent eight weeks in Kentucky. We deliberately brought him back a little bit slower, in part, because of how late the season ran last year,” explained Gillis. “We took our time with him and hopefully we’ll finish strong. He’s done everything on schedule so far and gotten a little bit better each time. He’s heading into the race in good form.”

Gillis knows his charge will need to drop considerable time off his 1:53.2 elimination clocking on Saturday to win a second Trot final. In fact, Mister Herbie will likely need to equal or better his own Trot final performance of 1:50.4.

“If they get a good track on Saturday, I suspect they’re going to flirt with the track record, and I’d be just as happy if we held it when it was over too,” he grinned.

Steve Condren, who won his first and only Maple Leaf Trot in 1988 with Natural Image, will be charged with engineering a winning trip and Gillis has every confidence in the veteran driver.

“Steve is a tremendous driver and very accomplished. He has a lot of experience and I think he suits the horse,” said Gillis.

As for the conditioner’s idea of the perfect trip?

“Ideally, we’ll get away mid pack and someone would soften up Sebastian K and we’d be second over and pounce on tired horses,” he offered. “It takes a lot of luck for something like that to unfold, but I think it’s going to be an interesting race. I’m not sure everyone will lay back and let him (Sebastian K) get an easy half.”

And while the Maple Leaf Trot is certainly first and foremost for Gillis and Mister Herbie heading into Saturday’s lucrative C$603,000 event, the conditioner does have one other key date circled on the calendar later in the season for Canada’s reigning champion older trotter.

“The race I’d really like him to win is the Breeders Crown,” said Gillis.

In 2012, Chapter Seven turned the tables on Mister Herbie to win the Breeders Crown at Woodbine and last year, at Pocono Downs, Mister Herbie dueled with Market Share to a furious finish, only to lose by a nose.

“I feel he deserved a better fate the last two years and that would be one that would mean a lot to me. It was heartbreaking (losing the photo),” said Gillis.

Until then, it’s eyes on the prize for Gillis and a horse he clearly has a lot of respect for.

“He’s the perfect horse in every sense of the word. He does everything right, full of personality and I’m extremely fond of him,” said Gillis. “We haven’t really won a big one in a couple years. Herbie’s Maple Leaf Trot was probably our last big win, so I feel like we’re due for another.”

Post time for Saturday’s Maple Leaf Trot card is 7:25 p.m, with the Maple Leaf Trot expected to go behind the gate at 10:05 p.m.

Race 9–Maple Leaf Trot–Purse: C$603,000
PP-Horse-Driver-Trainer-Morning Line
1. Sebastian K–Ake Svandstedt–Ake Svandstedt–2-5
2. Market Share–Tim Tetrick–Linda Toscano–6-1
3. Intimidate–Sylvain Filion–Luc Blais–12-1
4. Archangel–Jody Jamieson–Ron Burke–10-1
5. Wishing Stone–Randall Waples–Ron Burke–20-1
6. Mister Herbie–Steve Condren–Jeff Gillis–15-1
7. Creatine–Mike Lachance–Bob Stewart–15-1
8. Undercover Strike–Doug McNair–Tony O’Sullivan–25-1
9. Flanagan Memory–Chris Christoforou–Rene Dion–25-1
10. Modern Family–Ron Pierce–Daryl Bier–20-1
AE: Wheeling N Dealin–Jody Jamieson–Luc Blais–N/A