With Hambletonian weekend approaching, a horse and trainer that know a thing or two about capturing harness racing's holy grail were making headlines with a return to the racetrack.
After a short retirement and season of stallion duty, 2019 Horse of the Year Forbidden Trade set foot back on the racetrack for the first time since last November with a qualifying mile on Friday (August 4) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Louis-Philippe Roy had the driving assignment behind Forbidden Trade in the morning's fifth qualifier. He settled the 2019 Hambletonian winner into the pocket behind TheLionking As (James MacDonald) through a :29.2 opening quarter, and then was shuffled back to third as Lite The Candles (Bob McClure) forged to the front. Still parked through a :58.2 half, Lite The Candles fronted the field past the third station in 1:28.3. Dowedealinandwhy (Sylvain Filion) started a first-over attack around the far turn, getting close to even terms with Lite The Candles turning for home.
At this point, Forbidden Trade was fourth and still sitting along the pylons. But Roy gave him his cue, tipped him into the three path and Forbidden Trade did the rest. The double millionaire closed assertively and trotted past his qualifying rivals to trip the timer in 1:57. Dowedealinandwhy was another two lengths back in second.
"He felt great," Roy told Trot Insider after the qualifying effort. "He was just waiting on me to show him a little bit of open road, and just came off the helmet like a bullet!"
Trained by Luc Blais for Determination of Montreal, Que., Forbidden Trade (Kadabra - Pure Ivory) sports a summary of 25-9-7 in 60 career starts with earnings of $2,364,825. Blais told Trot Insider after the qualifier that the seven-year-old stallion came back into training in May after the first year at stud "didn't work like [the connections] had hoped." Blais is still confident that the horse can be a commercial stallion, but also wanted to give him another chance as a racehorse. The process to bring him back to the track went as smoothly as one could hope.
"He was at Seelster Farm, and he looked very, very good...and it was easy to bring him back to the racetrack. I didn't miss a day and everything was good. He likes his job. It's easy with a horse like that."
Blais indicated that the plan is to return Forbidden Trade for another qualifier in one week's time and assess next steps after that. The O'Brien Award winning horseman is certainly aware that a qualifier in 1:57 is a far cry from what will be needed to compete with harness racing's top trotters. He's also aware that Forbidden Trade's schedule is a clean slate sans stakes engagements.
"After the second qualifier, we'll see. This year, because we thought he was just going to be a stallion, we didn't make him eligible for anything. We'll see, race by race. We'll supplement for a few races if we can and if shows he's come back like he's supposed to be.
"It depends on him. If he pushes us to make supplement payments, it's a good problem."
If that's the path for Team Forbidden Trade, Blais will be thrilled. But he added that there's no pressure to get the award-winning trotter back to the Grand Circuit.
"He's going to make his own schedule. He's deserved that. We'll follow him."
The full video stream from Friday's qualifying session is available below.
For results from the qualifying session, click the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park (Qualifiers).