With the start of stakes season on the horizon and a number of curveballs thrown at the connections of Warrawee Vital, the four-year-old stallion will return to the racetrack this Saturday (April 24) at The Meadowlands. The location for that qualifier has prompted a change in stud duty.
According to co-owner Blair Corbeil, the connections behind Warrawee Vital made the difficult decision to curtail the pacer s previously planned stallion duties. The timing for qualifying is on target and in line with what was envisioned at the start of the season, but the location for that qualifier is not. Everything kind of changed when they cancelled the Confederation Cup and added that extra Graduate stake before they raced at Mohawk, Corbeil told
With two horses already guaranteed spots in the final of the MGM Borgata Series for older male pacers, trainer Ron Burke will look to add a third on Monday (April 12), when Yonkers Raceway hosts the last preliminary round of the six-week event.
Based on points accumulated in the series, the Burke Brigade’s Rockapelo and This Is The Plan are among five horses to have already secured places in the eight-horse final on April 19. The others are Western Joe, Hesa Kingslayer N and Leonidas A.
Burke’s Backstreet Shadow is in the best position to join that group, pending the outcomes in Monday’s last preliminary divisions of the series. Backstreet Shadow, sixth in points, is the 8-5 morning-line favourite in the first of the last three Borgata splits, starting from post one.