Keep On Truckin Clears Away in Clarendon

TORONTO, ON – It’s never a bad sign when a horse named Keep On Truckin lives up to his label, which is what Keep On Truckin did as he cleared away impressively to win Saturday’s $125,000 Clarendon Stakes at Woodbine. The Clarendon is restricted to juvenile registered Ontario-breds.

Breaking from post 4 under Emma-Jayne Wilson as the 3/5 favorite, Keep On Truckin dipped slightly but quickly recovered and asserted himself alone on the front end. Forester’s Fortune bravely tried to keep pace with the leader through opening fractions of :22.46 and :44.99, but by the time he had straightened for home, Keep On Truckin was long gone.

Widening his lead with every impressive stride, the Catherine Day Phillips-trained Keep On Truckin did exactly that, flying home 7 3/4 lengths the best to win the 5 1/2-furlong sprint over the fast synthetic surface in a final time of 1:03.70.

“This horse is a beast,” Wilson said. “He knows what he’s doing. Catherine’s said it in interviews before about how laidback he is about everything. I breezed him in the morning the other day and he just did it so easily, and today, when the doors opened, he was all business and he went on with it.”

Meyer finished 7 lengths ahead of the debuting Gelato Amore for second, while Forester’s Fortune faded after chasing the pace to complete the order of finish. Professor Tally was a stewards scratch.

Keep On Truckin’s win was his second in as many starts, having won his debut by 11 3/4 lengths while going 5 furlongs over this same surface on July 7. The gelded son of Society’s Chairman, purchased for $85,217 as a yearling, has now earned $81,657 for co-owners George Ledson, Brian Ledson, and Anderson Farms Ontario.

“He trained very well into his first race and how well he ran was quite shocking, really, for any horse to run that well and win that easily and come back and be very laid back and not revved up from it at all,” Day Phillips said. “I was afraid it was too much to ask for him to do the same again, and he came and did the same again. He’s a very special horse.”

Keep On Truckin returned $3.40 to win and $2.10 to place, while Meyer brought back $2.20 to place. There was no show betting due to the shortened field.