If you have young trotters your goal is to have one good enough for the Mohawk Million. Imagine if you had four start to start in the $1 million affair on September 24.
That is the potential scenario Matt and John Bax face. Saturday night they have three colts in the $665,000 William Wellwood and two fillies in the $362,000 Peaceful Way. It is unlikely they would consider filly Quite Fast to tackle the colts in the Million but stablemate Righteous Resolve looks every bit the equal of her male counterparts.
A lot of good things have to happen Saturday but right now, this is a dream situation for the Campbellville, Ontario Stable.
Righteous Resolve has to be the deadass favourite for the Peaceful Way. In last week’s elimination she stalked heavily favoured Heart On Fire like a hunting dog and left no doubt which is the superior filly. Built like a tank with the guts of a burglar, this girl has just one loss and if she is successful how can her American owners not go in the Million. Two year old fillies have shown they can mix it up quite nicely with the boys just as Venerable showed in last year’s Mohawk Million.
Then there is the Wellwood where the team has their big three now led by Oh Look Magic. A very muscular colt, Magic has had some anxiety issues but raced beautifully in the elimination doing all the work in a 1:55.1 mile. Matt Bax was his pilot but has stepped aside in favour of James MacDonald which would appear to be a smart business move as well as a character one. As long as this colt gets away from the gate without incident, the rest are going to have to take him down for the prize.
Through the winter, Snowpiercer was the leader of the pack for Matt Bax who developed him. But he has been a little scratchy of late not quite responding to the challenges he faced. But he could turn on a dime, catch a trip and be last man standing.
Southwind Coors is maybe the most interesting one. He’s still a maiden but has been improving every start and has a big finishing kick. If a hot mile emerges off the gate he could be lying in the bushes salivating for the last quarter mile. It would be quite a thing if a maiden were to snare the big money.
If the three colts all race reasonably well and place, there is every argument that the respective owners have to go for broke next month. There are people sitting out there with slots for the Million looking to carve whatever deal they can to have a horse in the race. It’s just so hard for anyone to conceive possibly having four starters drawing behind the gate.
For the Bax family this is a business from start to finish but for the people involved maybe not so much. One has to dream big in this game otherwise why be in it.
It will be hard to improve on last year’s Mohawk Million which was as exciting as it gets. The filly Venerable just managed to hold off the Bax entrant Duly Resolved. That also means the team has some unfinished business in this race.
It is a stellar card on Saturday at Mohawk but the storyline of the Bax stable is centre stage. They started out with 21 yearlings and to get four into the richest race in the game for two-year-old trotters is beyond extraordinary. Still a lot of good things have to happen.
But can you imagine….