by Frank Salive, for Western Fair Raceway

London, ON — The countdown is underway at Western Fair for the London track’s signature annual event, the 36th edition of the C$250,000 Molson Pace, less than eight weeks away on Friday, May 30.

Zooka, who finished fourth in last year’s final, is on target for a return engagement.

“We call Zooka ‘the giraffe’ because he’s so long-legged,” says his co-owner Jamie Millier of Dorchester, Ontario, just a short distance east of London. “We tried him in the Molson Pace last year and winning driver Chris Christoforou (with Rare Jewel) came off the bike saying how great a test Zooka gave him after he went first-over and was beaten less than two lengths. We’re really excited and Ben (co-owner and trainer Ben Wallace) and his staff deserve the credit for the great career he’s had.”

At present the millionaire pacer is in Woodbine’s Spring Championship Series. He danced all of last year’s big dances with 10 wins from 35 starts, including a close-up third place finish in the Breeders Crown, and his 1:49.3 life’s mark came in a C$50,000 Invitational at Kawartha Downs.

Trainer Wallace and primary driver Mario Baillargeon frequently lamented the free-legged pacer was a ‘lazy’ horse in his 2- and 3-year-old seasons. That lament is no longer heard in reference to Zooka.

“From his size anyone seeing him in the paddock is just amazed at how well he gets around a half-mile track,” Millier says. “He just seems to be getting better and tougher with each passing year. Of course post position draw luck means a lot in a race like this; perhaps 2008 is the year we can bring the Molson Pace title home to the London area.”

Here is the complete nomination list of the 29 eligibles to the 2008 Molson Pace. Eliminations will be held on Friday, May 23, and the final on Friday, May 30.

1-Action Figure, 2-Arid N, 3-Bay Sign, 4-Booze Cruzin, 5-Button Up, 6-Clowns Smile, 7-Daddy Mac, 8-Eagle Luck, 9-Forensic Z Tam, 10-Fox Valley Tribal, 11- Fresh Deck, 12-Gimmebackmybullets, 13-Grand Bend Turbo, 14-In The Irons, 15-Keystone Matt, 16-Maltese Artist, 17-Mr Saratoga, 18-Our Lucky Killean, 19-Priceless Edition, 20- Rare Jewel, 21-Ruff Me Up, 22-Saratoga John, 23-Sergei Seelster, 24-Silent Swing, 25-Tigerama, 26-Transcending, 27-Wholly Louy, 28-Won The West, and 29-Zooka.

Monday, Monday

Western Fair’s C$18,400 Preferred Pace is the ninth race the on Monday evening, March 31, card and has three Molson Pace eligibles in the field including 2006 winner Our Lucky Killean along with Button Up and Gimmebackmybullets. Post time is 7:35 p.m.

On the same program is the 11th race Mares Preferred Pace for a purse of C$15,200 where 5-2 morning line favorite Pink Kangaroo will make the second start of her 4-year-old season from post two.

Monday post time at Western Fair moves to 4:05 p.m. on April 7 while the Tuesday cards at 4:05 p.m. and Friday evening programs at 7:35 p.m. remain the same through the current meet concluding on June 27.