by Ashley Mayotte, WEG communications

Campbellville, ON — Speed Again and Thinking Out Loud showed they were swift on Tuesday night (July 19) in a pair of Dream Maker eliminations for freshman pacing colts and geldings at Mohawk Racetack.

New Image Media photo

Speed Again was a 1:52.2 winner for Jody Jamieson.

Speed Again captured the first Dream Maker elim for trainer Jeff Gillis in a new lifetime mark of 1:52.2.

Gable Blue Chip (Rick Zeron) took the field to a :27.1 opening panel, but as the 2-year-olds entered the backstretch, the 2-5 favorite, Spinarama (Paul MacDonell), came first-over from fourth and cleared the lead at the half in :56.3 and cut three-quarters in 1:26.

Into the final turn, Speed Again (Jody Jamieson) made a bid for the lead and quarrelled with Spinarama. In deep stretch, Speed Again pulled away to secure a 2-1/2 length victory over the bettor’s choice. Terco Corazon (Mario Baillargeon) finished third.

Gillis was surprised by his gelding’s effort in the C$20,000 dash.

“We thought he was decent, nothing spectacular training down, but we are pretty tickled with that performance,” said the conditioner. “I was confident he was going to get into the race, but I wasn’t confident he would win.

“The two most logical horses were sitting first and second. At the half I knew we would have to be first-over into slow fractions and it was going to be tough, but he overcame it.”

The brown gelding picked up his second lifetime win in three career outings, increasing his earnings to $23,490 for Gillis, Ken Henwood, Mac Nichol and Gerald Stay. The son of Dragon Again-Sand Speed paid $9.40 to win as the second choice.

The Bob McIntosh-trained Thinking Out Loud also took a career-best clocking, getting under the wire in 1:53 to win from off-the-pace in the second elimination.

Special Blend (Paul MacDonell) was the tempo-setter through fractions of :27.3, :57.1, and 1:26.1.

Sent off at 1-5, Thinking Out Loud (Randy Waples) launched a first-over attack from fourth in the final turn to claim the lead in deep stretch. The son of Ponder-Los Angeles paced home in a :26.2 final quarter, three-quarters of a length ahead of Special Blend. Artache Hanover (Phil Hudon) finished third.

“He likes to track horses down,” said Waples following the win. “He is a real digger. He likes to see horses out in front of him and reel them in. He’s just a really nice horse and has a big engine in him. I hope he just keeps racing the way that he is because he should do pretty nice things.”

The brown colt picked up his second lifetime win in three career outings, increasing his earnings to $23,448 for Robert McIntosh Stables Inc., C S X Stables and Al McIntosh Holdings Inc. Thinking Out Loud paid $2.50 to win.

Here’s how the freshmen will line up for the C$60,000 Dream Maker final: 1. Waywatcher, 2. Big Unit, 3. Speed Again, 4. Thinking Out Loud, 5. Terco Corazon, 6. Gable Blue Chip, 7. Stare Down, 8. Spinarama, 9. Special Blend, 10. Artache Hanover, AE. Closin In On Me.