by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — Whenever Trevor Ritchie was afflicted with the winter blahs, thoughts of Blue Porsche’s return to action brought a smile to his face.

After two wins this season, Ritchie is still smiling.

Blue Porsche, trained by Blair Burgess and owned by Robert Burgess, Karin Olsson Burgess and the Blue Porsche Stable, is 2-for-2 this year heading into Saturday’s C$347,000 Goodtimes Stakes at Mohawk Racetrack. The 3-year-old colt is coming off a one length victory over Sim Brown in 1:55.1 in his Goodtimes elimination.

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Blue Porsche defeated Sim Brown by one length in 1:55.1 in a Goodtimes elimination last week.

Last year, Blue Porsche won five of nine races and earned $402,568. He ended the campaign by winning the Valley Victory in Canadian-record time (1:54.1) and was named the recipient of Canada’s O’Brien Award for best 2-year-old male trotter.

“He ended up last year really good and so far he’s come back the same way,” Ritchie said. “Hopefully he continues on that road. As long as he behaves himself, I’m very confident that he’s the one to beat.”

A son of Burgess’ 2006 Horse of the Year Glidemaster and the dam Machita, Blue Porsche began his career by going off stride in two of his first three races, both at The Meadows, before winning divisions of the Champlain and Bluegrass stakes, finishing second in an International Stallion Stakes division, and winning his elim and the final of the Valley Victory.

“He always felt like a horse that had lightning fast speed, and he does have that,” said Ritchie, who began driving Blue Porsche with the Champlain and has won six of eight starts with the colt. “At first, he felt like he was a little not confident in himself. As we went along, he seemed to get more solid. By the time he raced in the Valley Victory, it felt like I could do anything I wanted with him.

“He just had to get some confidence. They’re just babies and sometimes don’t have their minds focused on racing. He was getting more confident, and then I was getting more confident. It was a combination. I felt I could do more with him, and I’m guessing he felt the same, too; that he could do more.”

Blue Porsche began this year with a 1:54 victory against older horses in an overnight at Mohawk.

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Trevor Ritchie sees “unlimited potential” in Blue Porsche.

“I just sat back with him and at the head of the lane moved over and he just flew through the lane through a field of older horses,” Ritchie said. “He was pretty impressive.

“The other night (in the Goodtimes elim) he got a little scrambly gaited on me late in the mile, but I still had a ton of trot left. I never pulled the earplugs or chased him. I’m thinking there’s still a lot left in the tank yet.”

Ritchie, who won the Hambletonian with Yankee Paco in 2000, does not want to look ahead, but sometimes it can be difficult.

“When you drive one at the end of the year that looks as good or better than any of them, it kind of gets your mind wandering during those cold winter days,” he said, laughing. “But I’ve been in this game long enough to know there are no sure things. You just have to go week by week.

“He certainly gives you all kind of reasons to be optimistic. I see unlimited potential. He’s got all the talent, the brains, the conformation, the pedigree. I don’t see anything to hold him back. I know if you get too confident in anything it will come back to bite you, but I’m as confident in him as in any horse I’ve driven.

“It’s never easy when you’re playing with the best. It’s certainly not going to be easy. But if somebody said I could choose any 3-year-old trotter to drive this year, I would pick him.”

Following is the field for Saturday’s C$347,000 Goodtimes Stakes at Mohawk, with listed drivers and trainers. The connections of elimination winners Blue Porsche, Imperial Count, and VC Chocoholic got to pick their post positions; the remainder of the field was drawn.

1. Highland Thunder, Rick Zeron, Susanne Kerwood; 2. Imperial Count, Scott Zeron, Richard “Nifty” Norman; 3. Blue Porsche, Trevor Ritchie, Blair Burgess; 4. VC Chocoholic, Brian Sears, Trond Smedshammer; 5. Mr Joe Sixpack, Jody Jamieson, Shane Arsenault; 6. Onirique, Luc Ouellette, Fredrik Persson; 7. Soulful Delight, Tim Tetrick, Robert Young; 8. Ice Machine, David Miller, Charlie Norris; 9. Sim Brown, Randall Waples, Jeff Gillis; 10. Tamarind, Sylvain Filion, Mark Steacy.