Canadian Pacing Derby champion Modern Legend will look to keep his winning momentum rolling with The Red Mile's Grand Circuit meet just on the horizon.
Two weeks ago, Modern Legend turned in one of the season's most notable upsets, taking down a powerful Ron Burke-trained quartet in what has been dubbed "a victory for the little guy" in the $634,000 Canadian Pacing Derby at Mohawk Racetrack. The homebred pacer turned in a dazzling career-best 1:47.2 triumph for the single-horse stable of St. Catharines horseman Dave Drew.
Although Modern Legend has proven to be a solid competitor in the aged pacing division, he had not won an Open stakes event prior to the Derby and was sent off at odds of 66-1. But Drew had confidence the six-year-old Modern Art-Ruby Cam gelding could put the pieces together and score a big one sooner or later.
"I have thought for an extended period of time that if Modern Legend put everything together in the same race that he could win against this group," Drew told Trot Insider. "It’s a very tough group of competitors and everything has to go well, but I thought he would be able to get a win with this group at some point. When it was going to happen, I didn't know, but every race I've hoped for it and he put it all together with an excellent drive from David Miller this time.”
Modern Legend's next scheduled stakes event is the Allerage Farms Open at The Red Mile.
"He's doing good. I haven’t raced him the last couple of weeks, I’m giving him a little break from racing," said Drew. "He’s had a fairly steady schedule of racing through the spring and summer, I decided to ease back a little bit."
Eliminations (if needed) for the Allerage will be held on Sunday, Sept. 28 with the final the following weekend on Oct. 5.