by John Pawlak, the U.S. Trotting Association

Columbus, OH — Harry Locke and Daniel Sarafian’s Gotcha Covered came off the “sick list” in December, and swept the Valedictory Series at Woodbine Racetrack. For his efforts, the 3-year-old gelding has been named the Horse of the Month for December by the U.S. Trotting Association.

New Image Media photo

Gotcha Covered and Paul MacDonell swept the Valedictory Series at Woodbine on their way to Horse of the Month honors.

“He won a couple of races (in the summer), but he had problems breathing and it got worse,” trainer Randy Van Meer recently told Woodbine publicist John Siscos. “Every time I had him scoped it never showed anything. We took him to the vet, they put him on a treadmill and it showed where he was flipping his palate. So they did the surgery the next day, I gave him two months off, brought him back and he’s been great ever since.”

Van Meer is given to understatement.

Gotcha Covered began December with an overnight win at Woodbine, rushing from ninth at the half-mile pole to win by a nose, in 1:53.2. He then swept through a pair of $18,800 Valedictory preliminaries, and then won the $57,000 final — and in all three races came from off the pace, each time as the favorite.

The pacer will now be aimed towards the Willowdale Pacing Series, which will begin this Saturday, and then the Cam Fella Series, which will be convened in mid-March.