by Joshua Potts, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Springfield, IL — Seven 3-year-old colts and geldings will go postward in the $15,000 Taurus Bomber at Balmoral Park on Saturday, April 5. Carded as race number five, the stake for ICF pacers will kick off an exciting season of stakes action at the mile oval in south suburban Chicago.

Starting from post number two, Kinsel, a gelding by Park Place, out of the Keystone Raider mare N’Vincible, will be looking to win his third race in a row, and fourth on the season. Unraced at 2, the sophomore has a record of 7-3-2-1, good for $11,880 in earnings.

Balmoral Park photo

Kinsel will be gunning for his third straight victory in the Taurus Bomber on Saturday.

The Roger Welch-trainee looked excellent last Saturday (March 29) in the first leg of the Spring Series at Balmoral Park.

With a 1-1/4 length lead in a half that went in :57.3, driver Brent Holland tapped the brakes and gave Kinsel a :30 third quarter breather, maintaining the 1-1/4 length advantage. Kinsel then uncorked a :27.1 final quarter, earning him a four length victory, and a lifetime mark of 1:54.4. Sent off as the 2-5 public choice, he didn’t disappoint his many backers.

Welch is very pleased with how his charge has done up to this point.

“(Last year) he was just an immature 2-year-old, that’s all. I trained him down to (2):25, turned him out and let him grow.

“Earlier this year, he came from off-the-pace. Lately, he’s raced up front. He’s pretty handy. His family seems to get better as they get older. He’s pretty push-button, easy to drive, and easy to train. He’s just a late bloomer.”

Kinsel is a homebred of Gordon and Claudia Wright, of Charlotte, Mich.

“I bought N’Vincible as a yearling,” said Gordon. “She didn’t do too well as a racehorse, so we bred her. She was bred to Rambaran prior to (Park Place).”

N’Vincible’s mating with Rambaran produced the 2004 foal Eoos. Last Monday (March 31), Eoos won the $40,000 Open-Preferred Handicap Pace at Dover Downs, scorching the five-eighths-mile oval in a lifetime best 1:50.1. The 4-year-old gelding is now 6-for-12 on the season. The $85,340 he has banked this year has upped his career earnings to $148,118.

“I thought Park Place was well bred, and I liked the people at the University of Illinois, so we then bred N’Vincible to him,” said Gordon.

The resulting foal was Kinsel. The world of harness racing will never see another horse quite like Kinsel, because the 14-year-old Park Place died before his time, as a result of colic back in February of this year.

N’Vincible isn’t the only member of the maternal family that Gordon and Claudia Wright are familiar with.

“I bought (N’Vincible’s dam) One’s Enough a long time ago. We bred her and she had a filly named One Cadet.”

One Cadet earned $318,254 in her career and took a mark of 1:52.1 as a 5-year-old. She is the dam of the fine 2003 Pro Bono Best mare Gro p,4,1:50.3 ($258,390) and the 2001 The Big Dog gelding Gar p,1:50.3 ($226,497).

With a hot pacer from a good maternal family that seems to get better with age, Wright is very happy.

“(The Taurus Bomber) is probably going to be (Kinsel’s) most difficult race yet, but we expect to do well. I really appreciate the great job that Roger Welch has done.”

And how does the breeder-owner, who has owned harness horses since he and his dad got involved back in 1961, feel about his involvement in the game?

“I’m in it for the glory and to break even!” said a laughing Wright. “I don’t expect to make lots of money, but I’ve had a lot of fun.”

If Kinsel prevails this Saturday, his backers may not make a lot of money either, as he is expected to go off at a short price. But cashing winners at the mutuel windows — even short-priced ones — is always a lot of fun.