Saturday’s Gold events are a testing ground for pacing colts
September 19, 2012,by Sandra Snyder
Campbellville, ON — Warrawee Needy captured nine of 12 starts as a freshman and capped off his season with Ontario Sires Stakes and Canadian honors, but the 2012 campaign has not been as smooth for the pacing colt.
The son of E Dee’s Cam found the winner’s circle in his tenth start, an overnight event at Mohawk Racetrack on Sept. 1, then made it two in a row with a second overnight victory on Sept. 15, and his owners are cautiously hoping he is poised for his first provincial win of the season in Saturday’s C$130,000 Gold final at the Campbellville oval.
“We thought his last start in particular looked as if he was coming closer to what we hoped for as a 3-year-old,” says Dr. Michael Wilson, who bred the winner of $661,056 and shares ownership of the colt with trainer Carl Jamieson, Thomas Kyron and Floyd Marshall. “We thought he was a little bit short the start before, but this last race he looked pretty good, and he wasn’t in against slouches either. There were some good horses in there.”
In his Sept. 15 outing Warrawee Needy roared around the Mohawk oval on the front end, ringing up fractions of :26.3, :54.2 and 1:22.1 on his way to a 2-3/4 length victory in a personal best 1:49. One week earlier the colt and regular reinsman Jody Jamieson also employed a front-end strategy to record a head victory in 1:49.1.
Prior to those two victories Warrawee Needy had posted four seconds and one third in his first nine starts, with his best effort coming in the June 9 Pepsi North America Cup eliminations at Mohawk where he finished second to Sweet Lou in a 1:47.4 track record mile. In Gold Series action, last year’s division winner finished second to current division leader Michael’s Power in the elimination and final of the mid-summer Gold Series event at Mohawk and sixth in the Aug. 26 Gold final at Rideau Carleton Raceway.
Warrawee Needy will start from post seven in Saturday’s test and faces a field of seven colts, all looking to capitalize on the absence of the dominant Michael’s Power, who is testing his skill against North America’s best in the historic Little Brown Jug in Delaware, Ohio, on Sept. 20. With only eight entrants the colts advanced directly to Saturday’s Gold final without need for an elimination last weekend.
Based on the pacer’s recent efforts, Wilson and his fellow owners are hoping Saturday is the day Warrawee Needy makes a return to the Ontario Sires Stakes stage.
“Hopefully he’s back,” says the Rockwood resident. “He looked good.”
In addition to the C$130,000 sophomore pacing colt Gold final in the sixth race, Mohawk fans will be treated to a pair of Gold eliminations for the 2-year-old pacing colts in races three and 10.
After missing the bulk of the season to a slow-to-heal abscess, George Jettison will return to Gold Series action from post four in the first C$30,000 elimination and trainer Jack Darling is hoping the Jereme’s Jet son is able to get back up to speed off a Sept. 10 qualifier at Mohawk.
“I would have liked to have a start, but we’ll see what happens,” says the Cambridge resident, who also owns the colt.
“There’s some good 2-year-olds out there that have had a lot of starts. It will be pretty tough on him to get to that level this quick,” he continues. “We’ll see how he does.”
George Jettison started his career in the Gold Series, posting a fourth in an elimination of the season opener at Mohawk on June 29. Darling was satisfied with the young pacer’s 1:53.4 effort in that start, but felt the colt did not perform to his potential in a July 6 overnight that saw him finish second in a 1:54.2 mile.
“He raced okay, but not like I thought he would, and the next day he had a temperature of 105 (degrees Fahrenheit),” Darling recalls. “That’s when the abscess showed up.”
While he recovered from the abscess George Jettison was also hit by a bout of sickness, so he did not return to action until the Sept. 10 qualifier that saw him post a three-quarter length victory in 1:55.4. Mike Saftic will steer the colt in his third lifetime start and Darling would be delighted if the pair posted a top five finish and secured a berth in the Sept. 28 Gold final.
The other hopefuls in the first elimination include former Gold final winner Mach Pride from post one and reigning Gold final winner Windsong Jack from post eight. The second split features the third colt with a Gold final trophy to his credit this season; Tarpon Hanover will start from the outside post nine.
Mohawk Racetrack’s first race parades onto the oval at 7:10 p.m. Saturday. Ontario’s talented 2-year-old pacing colts will wage their Gold elimination battles in races three and 10 and the 3-year-old pacing colts will square off for Gold final glory in race six.
To view Warrawee Needy and George Jettison’s previous Gold Series starts please go to the following links: