by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Freehold, NJ — The conquering hero returns home.

St Elmo Hero, the winner of all 23 of his career starts, will race Saturday night (Feb. 26) at Balmoral Park in a $10,900 free-for-all pace against four rivals. St Elmo Hero began his career in a claiming race at Balmoral and won his first eight starts at the Chicago track.

Lisa photo

St Elmo Hero will look to extend his winning streak to 24 on Saturday.

The 5-year-old gelding is coming off a stakes-record 1:49.1 win in the $65,000 Complex at Meadowlands Racetrack. The triumph increased his career bankroll to $197,500 for owner John Barnard, who claimed St Elmo Hero in his first race. He is trained by Charles Eustis III.

“We’ve had a lot of people in Illinois ask me if I would race the horse in Illinois because there’s been a lot of local interest in him,” said Barnard, who lives in Orland Park, Ill. “I’ve been looking around for different prep races, and the way it worked out, it kind of made sense to race local and then we’ll ship him to Canada next week.”

St Elmo Hero is scheduled to head to Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack for the Cam Fella series, which begins March 5.

“I really felt he needs some kind of tightener and I thought this (race at Balmoral) might be appropriate,” Barnard said.

“He came out of the last race real good,” he added. “It was a tough test. But Elmo’s Elmo. He’s a tough horse. I thought he raced great. The horse does anything we ask him to do. He’s been real good. Hopefully, everything will go good Saturday and we’ll ship him up to Canada.”