Diplomat field set

Pepsi North America Cup-eligible Toucam Sam will lock horns with Dodgeball and Armbro Damien this Saturday evening at Woodbine in the $76,000 final of the Diplomat Pacing Series for 3 year olds.

The colt’s trainer, Garth Gordon, has said that even though a win in the Diplomat would be great for Toucam Sam, he is waiting for the Burlington (Woodbine, June 3) to figure out what he will do with the son of Cam’s Card Shark in regards to the ‘Cup.’

“My plan is to turn him out at the farm for a week [after the Diplomat final] and then his next start will be in the Burlington,” said Gordon, who conditions the four-time career winner for William Hill, Peter Harrison and James Walker. “If he does well in the Burlington then we’ll head for the Cup [eliminations at Woodbine on June 10]. If he doesn’t do well in the Burlington, then I’m not exactly sure what we’ll do with him.”

Without getting too far ahead of himself, Gordon knows that the Diplomat (Race 6, 9:25 p.m.), which isn’t a cake walk, is first and foremost.

“He’s as good as any in there, but he just hasn’t been able to draw a decent post or get any racing luck,” Gordon said about his pupil, ranked at 45-1 in Trot Magazine’s Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book, who has finished a close second and a respectable seventh in the Diplomat’s preliminary legs. “If he can get himself fit in with the first three or four and get a nice trip he can beat all of these horses. He’s a nice colt and deserves to be in there, that’s for sure.”

Toucam Sam hooked up with Dodgeball – the eventual wire-to-wire victor – in the opening leg and held his own throughout the mile. After coming first-up from fourth before the half-mile pole, Toucam Sam, with pilot Mike Saftic at the controls, tracked Dodgeball with ease and finished a half-length back in second during the 1:51.2 mile.

Handed post nine for his second round division, Toucam Sam was taken to the back of the pack off the wings and showed some life in the last quarter-mile of the dash, coming home with a :26.3 final panel and finishing 4½ lengths back of the leader, pacing his mile in 1:52.1.

Gordon, indicating another stalking trip for Toucam Sam in the Diplomat final, said, “We’ll probably have to come from behind again with him and hope that there is some front-end speed.” Although the bay with the mark of 1:53.1 showed he could get it done on the front last year in his freshman season.

“He can race on the front,” Gordon explained. “Last year, in a division of the Nassagaweya, he went to the front and then let the favorite go. The favorite ended up stopping right in his face and backed him through the field. He got out from behind him and came on for fourth.”

According to Gordon, Toucam Sam, who has a career record of 4-3-0 from 12 starts, came up sick after the Nassagaweya split – something that would eventually end his rookie campaign.

“He was then sick during his Metro elimination last year,” said Gordon, who would watch Toucam Sam finish well behind Palone Ranger in the dash. “He had these pimples in his throat that we couldn’t rid of and he was carrying a lot of mucus. We gave him a couple of weeks off and then qualified again. He won [the qualifier] by about 12 lengths in 1:58.2, but we scoped him again after the race and he was full of mucous. His pimples were still very raw, so at that stage we just turned him out for the year.”

Since coming back in 2006, Toucam Sam, who is out of the Western Hanover mare Arizona Yankee, has made five starts, winning once and finishing second on three occasions, good for $25,250 of his $64,495 career earnings.

“He still carries a little extra mucus – more than we’d like – but we’re maintaining it the best we can, and with the way he’s racing, it hasn’t bothered him that much.”

The complete field for the Diplomat final is listed below.

Diplomat – final
Post Position – Horse – Driver – Trainer – Morning Line Odds
1 – Banana Joes Bar – M. Baillargeon – J. Ciarpelli – 30-1
2 – Rosecroft Rummy – J. Moiseyev – M. King – 7-2
3 – Jake Of Diamonds – Ph. Hudon – S. Kerwood – 8-1
4 – Master The Art – Ma. MacDonald – D. Marfisi – 12-1
5 – Dodgeball – L. Ouellette – L. Farrelly – 3-1
6 – Toucam Sam – M. Saftic – G. Gordon – 5-1
7 – Gran Sasso – C. Christoforou – J. Stutzman – 20-1
8 – Presidential Alert – P. MacDonell – M. Smith – 20-1
9 – Armbro Damien – R. Zeron – R. McIntosh – 2-1

(Woodbine release)

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