Longshots take on Donato

The popular TV show 24 covers the events of a 24-hour period in the life of counter-terrorist agent Jack Bauer. The 24 freshman trotting colts entered in the $600,000 Breeders Crown will have their futures decided in less than two minutes this Friday at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto.

The three $25,000 eliminations feature a diverse group of young contestants seeking a berth in the final on Oct. 28. Donato Hanover is the Goliath of the division with a fat bankroll, six wins in seven attempts, and a multi-million dollar stallion syndication recently completed.

Jacob Graber of Grabill, Indiana is hoping to play “David” to Donato Hanover’s Goliath with a pair of lightly raced sons of first-crop sire Like A Prayer.

In the first elimination, his Praying For A Win is winless in seven tries and has just $910.00 on his card. The colt is 30-1 from the rail and will need every advantage against Donato Hanover from post three. In the second colt trot elim, Western Prayer represents the Graber family hopes from post four. The favorite in that division is Pennsylvania Sire Stake winner Mythical Lindy.

“This is just my second year of training fulltime,” said the 42-year-old Graber. “I put in a half-mile training track at my farm. We always had broodmares and raised yearlings and sold them, but we bought a lifetime breeding to Like A Prayer, so we decided to keep these two and see what happened.

“They are both very well gaited. Western Prayer never made a break in his life. After Lexington I made the choice to put them in [the Breeders Crown] after I trained them in 2:05 and then back in 2:02 on my half-mile farm track. It’s a good seven to 10 seconds off.

“I bred, broke and trained both of them down. And I didn’t start with 50, just two. So I am really pleased to be here. My son, Mark, who is 15 and has a better set of hands than a lot of people I’ve seen, helped training them down. Otherwise I’m a one-man band and even do the shoeing.”

Graber asked Luc Ouellette to drive the pair of colts after Ouellette drove another horse for him at Delaware.

“I’m counting on Luc Ouellette,” continued Graber. “He’s a good driver and if he has me in position at the head of the stretch we will be alright. I hope they make the final because if not it will be a long ride home.”

Praying For A Win is out of Tantallon Kay, the dam of $1.2 million winner Impeccable Image. Graber, who is Amish, took the retired millionaire to use as a buggy horse.

“He was okay at first,” laughed Graber. “But the more we put the harness on him the crazier he got. He would be trotting so fast down the road, I’d just be praying for things to hold together. I eventually had to give him away to Dot Morgan [Standardbred Rescue Group] and she broke him to saddle. She sent me photos of him with little kids riding him and I couldn’t believe it. He was a lunatic.”

A third elimination features Laddie, who counts the William Wellwood Memorial and Champlain among his wins this season. The son of Angus Hall made an untimely break in the Ontario Super Final, snapping his five-race win streak.

The top three finishers from the three eliminations and the fourth place finisher with the most seasonal earnings will return for the following week’s final. Elimination winners may pick their post positions. (Breeders Crown press release)

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