by Karen Briggs, WEG media department

Campbellville, ON — “It appears as though we’ve scared everyone away,” said trainer Brent MacGrath on hearing the news that his superstar colt Somebeachsomewhere’s next planned start in the Ontario Sires Stakes Gold eliminations had failed to fill.

The elimination, originally scheduled for this coming Sunday night at Mohawk, only attracted seven entries willing to take on The Beach. The Ontario Sires Stakes program ruled last year that more than 10 entries were required to hold Gold eliminations; otherwise, the purse for the elim as well as that for the consolation, is rolled into the final.

That makes the August 10 OSS Gold Final at Mohawk a lucrative C$180,000 contest — but for MacGrath, the situation also had its difficulties, as he had planned for Somebeachsomewhere to get a race in at the Campbellville oval before the final. The colt has not raced since July 19, when he tasted defeat for the first time in his career in the $1.1 million Meadowlands Pace final, losing by a nose to the gritty Art Official in a world record time of 1:47.

Fortunately, in place of the Gold elimination, the Woodbine Entertainment Group has carded a C$50,000 3-year-old open pace, where the world champion will take on five other rivals including The Mohegan Pan, Keystone Horatio, Romantic Thriller, Roman Rocks and Deuce Seelster.

The elimination erasure, however, may also affect the number of points Somebeachsomewhere accumulates towards the OSS Super Final this fall. It’s possible that the Monster from the Maritimes will have to make a foray to either Windsor Raceway or Rideau Carleton this October to contest a second OSS Gold series if he should find himself short on points.

For now, however, the objective is clear: “The Gold final at Mohawk first,” MacGrath says, “and then the (C$650,000) Confederation Cup at Flamboro Downs on August 17.”

Though there has been considerable pressure to see Somebeachsomewhere contest that most venerable of pacing challenges, the Little Brown Jug, MacGrath still nixes the idea.

“We’re not afraid of a half-mile track,” he says. “Going to Flamboro will prove that. Beach has trained on one just about every day of his life, and he set a world record last year on a half-mile track (in the Battle of Waterloo). And it’s not because of the heats, though the heat thing is not ideal and I don’t care for it.

“The real reason is that we want a world record for Somebeachsomewhere at Lexington this fall. That’s our goal. The clay surface at The Red Mile just has more bounce; it’s more forgiving, and that makes it conducive to breaking records.

“So it’s really about the timing. If Somebeachsomewhere has a tough day at Flamboro for the Confederation Cup, he has six weeks to recover from it. But there’s really no way you can prep for the Jug and then do Kentucky. It doesn’t work.”

Though losing the Meadowlands Pace undoubtedly stung the Schooner Stable consortium, MacGrath is confident it hasn’t made a dent in his colt.

“He’s feeling awesome coming out of it,” he says. “He learned a lot from the experience. He got stretched out for the first time in his life, and someone looked him in the eye for the first time. I think he liked it. I know he did.”

Will the experience make an even more formidable racehorse out of the previously-untouched Somebeachsomewhere? We may get a hint of the answer this Sunday night at Mohawk.