Stonebridge Tonic, one of two starters for McNair in the
track’s signature race, will leave from the trailing post eight and he’ll have
the track’s leading driver, Trevor Henry at the lines. “That’s why we put him
there,” joked McNair referring to Eagle Luck’s 1:51.1 victory from the same
post with the same driver.
McNair’s other starter is millionaire Aracache Hanover
who was an impressive winner in his elimination last week, holding of defending
champion Foiled Again to win in 1:51. He had the rail for that performance and
will find the going tougher tomorrow as he’s drawn the outside post seven.
“I think the best horses drew six (Foiled Again) and
seven (Aracache), and those are the toughest spots to leave from at London,” he
noted. “But you’ve got to start from somewhere and you never know what’s going
to happen in a race, that’s why we race them. We also have a three horse entry
(Ron Burke’s three starters Foiled Again, Clear Vision and Atochia) to contend
with.”
McNair’s son Doug, one of the country’s top young
drivers, will be in the sulky behind Aracache. “He went a monster mile last
week and he’s a half-mile specialist,” Doug noted earlier this week. “The only
thing we’re worried about is the post position, but that’s horse racing, I
guess. I don’t know how the race is going to shape up; it’s tough to say.”
Both McNairs acknowledge that the race should be a wide
open event and Gregg notes the trip to the London half-miler could be as
eventful as the one on track.
“Both horses are pretty studdy, you have to be careful
working with them and they can be a pain to truck. We have five in tomorrow so
we may have to take two loads.”
Aracache Hanover comes into tomorrow’s event with three
wins and three thirds in nine starts this year. The winner of $1,143,537
lifetime is owned by William Switala and James Martin of New York who purchased
him as a yearling for $37,000. The Dragon Again five-year-old has been trained
by McNair since the start of his career.
Stonebridge Tonic has also had the benefit of McNair’s
expert care from the start of his two-year-old season. The now five-year-old
Camluck son who has $576,000 earned to date is owned by McNair and Len Gamble.
He came into the Molson eliminations off three straight wins at Yonkers’
half-mile oval.
“We had him in the Levy Series and he was slower to come
back then I’d hoped but he also had some bad post positions there,” said Gregg.
To win a second Molson Pace final would be special for
McNair. “It’s a great race to be in, and at London I am racing against so many
of the people I grew up with. But to win another one from those posts, it will
be tough.”
Tomorrow’s card at The Raceway has a special post time of
6:50 p.m. with the featured event going to post as race 10 (approximately
9:40). The card also includes an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Final for
three-year-old trotting colts and four City of London Series Finals.
Live video of the races and program pages are available
through this link: http://www.westernfairdistrict.com/gaming/raceway.
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