by Jeff Renton, media/communications, the Woodbine Entertainment Group

Toronto, March 24, 2005… A deadly foe in the three-year-old ranks last year, Quik Pulse Mindale recently made a splash into his aged career – and there were few that didn’t notice.

With his next start scheduled to take place during this Saturday evening’s C$55,000 opening leg of the Spring Pacing Championship at Woodbine, the student of conditioner Mike Arnold will be looking to build on a gargantuan tightener which he recently put in at Balmoral Park.

Engineering a neck victory in 1:51.2 over the Crete, Illinois mile strip on March 19, Quik Pulse Mindale was making his first pari-mutuel start of the campaign. Having come in off a pair of solid qualifiers, the son of Jennas Beach Boy paced his final three-quarters in a blistering combined time of 1:20.4 – quite a foray into the older level.

Arnold, who has seen the lightening-quick bay do it before, was expecting the impressive effort.

“With the way that he qualified, yes,” Arnold explained. “He qualified very handy and went the last three-quarters in that second qualifier in about 1:22 and a piece – and was very comfortable in doing it.”

Thirteen horses have been drawn into a pair of divisions for Saturday’s opening leg. A six-horse tilt featuring the likes of Rair Earth, Dr No and Whosurboy will square off in Race 3 (8:22 p.m.); while Quik Pulse Mindale, Blissed Out and Admirals Express will be part of the seven-horse field for Race 10, which is expected to go to post at 10:49 p.m.

An Open pacing series for four-year-olds and aged horses, the Spring Pacing Championship’s C$55,000 second leg is slated for March 2, while the C$117,500 (estimated) final is scheduled for March 9.

Closing in on 9,300 wins in his standout career in the bike, Tony Morgan, Quik Pulse Mindale’s regular pilot, will again be at the horse’s lines on Saturday. The duo are set to leave from post position four in the contest and have been instilled as the 2-1 morning line selection.

Continuing on about Quik Pulse Mindale – a multiple stakes winner at three with in excess of $837,000 in the bank overall – Arnold feels that his prized pupil is ready to tackle his competitors on Saturday.

“Actually, Tony raced him pretty easy [in his start at Balmoral] because he didn’t pull him until the half and he had cover,” said Arnold, a resident of Beecher, Illinois. “So yes, I think that he is good and up for [Saturday].

“He came out of his race very good. He came out fine. We shipped him on Monday [March 21] and he’s been at Classy Lane [in Puslinch, Ontario] ever since.”

Along with taking the C$466,000 Provincial Cup, the $235,000 American National, the $100,000 Motor City Pace Final and a Breeders Crown Elimination last year, Quik Pulse Mindale also paced in 1:48 (his life’s mark) in a Free For All at Balmoral.

Out of the No Nukes mare Midnight Stage, Quik Pulse Mindale hit the three-quarters during that record mile in an unbelievable 1:19 and it should be interesting to see whether he turns those jets on yet again this Saturday.

“He wintered well,” continued the 58-year-old, who trains the career winner of 15 dashes for Lloyd Arnold and the Estate of Nancy Arnold. “We had him off for about five or six weeks and didn’t do much with him. The winter has been alright here this year and it was a good one to get him back in.

“With the way that he raced here the other night and with how he came back [from the layoff], I think he’ll be fine. He might need another start to get really good and tightened up, but I would say that he is as good as they [the rest of the field] are.”

According to Arnold, Quik Pulse Mindale, who finished three-quarters of a length back in second behind Western Terror in last year’s Breeders Crown, has increased in stature since racing in the glamour boy division.

“He’s grown some from last year,” Arnold indicated. “My wife takes care of him all of the time and she said that when we started to get him ready this year that we had to let some stuff out on him.

“We have let his hopples out a little more than what we did last year.”

The complete fields for Saturday’s divisions are as listed:

Division #1

PP – Horse – Driver – Trainer – Line
1 – Rair Earth – M. Saftic – M. Harder – 7-5
2 – Dr No – Ra. Waples – W. Elliott – 3-1
3 – Execujet – S. Condren – R. Gillock – 15-1
4 – Whosurboy – L. Ouellette – M. Ford – 5-2
5 – Tigerama – Ph. Hudon – R. Griffiths – 7-2
6 – Mr Domi – J. Jamieson – J. Cochlin – 10-1

Division #2

PP – Horse – Driver – Trainer – Line
1 – Aahm Canadian Now – M. Saftic – M. Preszcator – 7-1
2 – Blissed Out – L. Ouellette – W. Elliott – 4-1
3 – Street Sign – R. Zeron – M. Ford – 10-1
4 – Quik Pulse Mindale – A. Morgan – M. Arnold – 2-1
5 – Admirals Express – P. MacDonell – M. Hales – 7-2
6 – Magical GG – C. Christoforou – J. Janes – 15-1
7 – Escape The Wind – R. Mayotte – R. Mayotte – 3-1

NOTE: The complete fields of both races will be performing out of the Retention Barn