by Frank Salive, for Western Fair Raceway

London, ON — His morning line odds of 10-1 suggest he’ll be a longshot in the C$18,400 Preferred Pace at Western Fair on Monday evening (Jan. 14), but the trainer of pacer Snap Out Of It, Jim Ainsworth, says his stable member could be set for a form upturn very soon.

“He didn’t race that badly on Boxing Day when he was third with those horses but he scoped a little sick after the race,” Ainsworth said. “We’ve treated him up since and he’s better now. Post five is a tough one to draw because XLB Patrick starts inside of us in post three and Button Up has been really good the past few months and he has the trailing post eight. Snap Out Of It might not be able to beat those horses this time but someday very soon we hope things work out that he will.”

Ainsworth shares ownership of the 5-year-old Camluck-Armbro Snapshot horse with Vancouver’s Bill Boden, Reg Gassien of Lindsay ON and Claude Pearson of Tilbury, ON. Snap Out Of It won 9 times from 34 starts in 2007 which included victories in an elimination of the Clash Of The Pacific at Fraser Downs and on December 17 in Western Fair’s Preferred-2 class.

The 44-year-old horseman operates from a home base near Sarnia, ON and his starters amassed over C$741,000 in earnings in 2007. Ainsworth also has 571 lifetime driving wins to his credit although he did not suit up to drive a single horse last year.

The marquee horse in his stable most recently has been Grand Bend Turbo who was a hard closing third at Woodbine on Saturday. He says Snap Out Of It is close to being in a dead heat with Justice Cam as the second best stable member he has at this time.

“Snap Out Of It is back to 100 percent or if he isn’t he’s very close to it — and one of his best characteristics is that he’s not hard on himself,” Ainsworth observes. “He’s made C$218,000 for us at this stage and he’s completely sound. It won’t be a surprise to me if he’s around racing for four or five more years.”

Well stocked undercard

The Ainsworth camp will also be represented in London’s Mares Preferred Pace in the fourth race on Monday evening. The 4-year-old mare Admired Beauty starts from post eight and like Snap Out Of It has a 10-1 morning line ranking. On January 3 Admired Beauty made a gate break in Toronto in a mares conditioned event which was just after a December 20 win at Western Fair in 1:58.3.

Monday evening’s C$18,400 Preferred Trot in the sixth race should be a dandy. The 5-year-old mare Porsche Hall just missed last week after a strong front end try and has drawn into post two with Terry Kerr the trainer and driver for BetMax Stables and Benenati Inc. of Michigan.

Callie Rankin’s track record holder Brawn Seelster starts from the outside post seven in this event.

Other accomplished performers in this field include Surfing Angus (post four, Mike Langdon), Twin B Sporty (post five, Alex Lilley) and Classic Lavec (post six, Dave Wall).

Post time at Western Fair each Monday and Friday is at 7:35 p.m. and each Tuesday at 4:05 p.m.