by Sandra Snyder, for the Ontario Sire Stakes

Campbellville, ON — Patience may be a virtue, but when Steve Gilmour claimed trotting mare Heartless Society he never expected to wait five years before seeing a return on his investment.

Gilmour claimed the mare out of a race at Mohawk Racetrack on March 25, 2003, and this Monday, May 26, the Waterdown resident and his partners will congregate at the Campbellville oval to watch her first foal roll up behind the gate in a 3-year-old trotting colt Gold Final.

“We claimed his mother probably about four or five years ago and we never even got a start out of her,” recalls Gilmour. “The night we claimed her she tore a suspensory in her right front ankle.

“She was a hard hitting race mare, I think she made about a quarter million, so we decided we’d try breeding her,” he continues. “The first year she didn’t get in foal and the second year she aborted twins, so this guy was our third try. I’m glad we waited.”

Gilmour and his partners, Kenneth Guest and the Genesis Stable III, have been impressed with Society Kad since his early lessons, but the group was forced to wait until this season to see the colt race after a routine check-up last summer revealed a pair of immature knees.

“We trained him down to 2:07 in July, and he did it extremely easy,” explains Gilmour. “We took him up to Terry Ruch in Barrie to go over him and found out his knees were wide, wide open still. They didn’t look that way, and he didn’t act that way, but Terry thought it would be a little dangerous to start racing him.”

After a two month vacation, Society Kad returned to training last October and made his debut in a qualifier at Mohawk Racetrack on March 7. Six days later the young trotter made his first start at Woodbine Racetrack and was promoted from third to second when the winner made a break at the wire. On March 27 Society Kad found his way to the winner’s circle with a 1:57.4 effort, and in his next two starts he finished first and second in legs of the Tie Silk Series.

Illness forced the Kadabra son to miss the Tie Silk Final, but he bounced back with a sharp 1:56.3 effort in a May 12 overnight at Mohawk to finish third and earn a shot at the Gold Series.

Starting from post one in last weekend’s Gold elimination, Society Kad and driver Chris Christoforou stepped to the front heading by the :57.4 half and led the field to a 1:27.2 three-quarters before giving way to winner Andiron Springs and runner-up Logans Hero in the stretch. Gilmour says they discovered a minor injury following the race and the colt should be sharper for Monday.

“Chris said he was getting a little sideways in the stretch, but he didn’t want to push him and throw him into a break and miss our chance to qualify,” explains the horseman. “We’ve had a little more time, with eight days between the elimination and final, to fix that up, so hopefully it will be all systems go for Monday.”

Christoforou will steer Society Kad from post eight in Monday’s C$120,000 Gold Final, with elimination winners Andiron Springs and B Strike Three lining up at posts three and nine, respectively. Gilmour hopes the novice trotter will deliver a creditable performance worthy of his new nickname.

“As a 2-year-old he was just a puppy dog, we called him baby bear,” says Gilmour. “All of a sudden this spring, his hormones kicked in and he started to get a little studdy so we removed the ‘baby’ part and he’s just bear. I keep saying, ‘I hope he turns into a grizzly,’ but right now we’re just at the bear stage.”

Society Kad will face nine of the division’s bearcats in race five on Monday, while nine of the colts that did not advance to the final compete in the C$20,000 Gold consolation in race four. Post time for Mohawk Racetrack’s Monday program is 7:20 p.m.

Here’s the complete field:

C$120,000 Gold Final
Post-Horse (Sire)-Driver-Trainer
1-J S Chisum (Southwind Lustre)-B. Watt- K. Davidson
2-O U Gus (Angus Hall)-W. O’Donnell-J. Duford
3-Andiron Springs (Striking Sahbra)-J. Moiseyev-F. Colville
4-Logans Hero (Angus Hall)-J. Jamieson-E. Miller
5-Hot And Coldplay (Angus Hall)-L. Ouellette-C. Beaver
6-Start Livin (Striking Sahbra)-K. Oliver-D. Creighton
7-Nureyev (Striking Sahbra)-M. MacDonald-W. Companion
8-Society Kad (Kadabra)-C. Christoforou, Jr.-S. Gilmour
9-B Strike Three (Striking Sahbra)-R. Zeron-R. Mackenzie
10-Sergeant York (Duke Of York)-T.B.A.-L. Walker
AE1-Bold As Blazes (Angus Hall)-C. Christoforou, Jr.-D. McCall
AE2-The Mash Potato (Potato Race)-M. Saftic-B. Spence
AE3-Define The World (Duke Of York)-Ra. Waples-J. Bax