Century Farroh in tough from post seven in Saturday’s Battle of Lake Erie

By Dave Briggs

June 4, 2021 – Canada’s reigning Horse of the Year will get his first stakes start of the year on Saturday at Northfield Park near Cleveland, OH when the $200,000 Battle of Lake Erie free-for-all invitation for older pacers goes to post in race 10 (first race post 6 p.m. Eastern).

Century Farroh, the winner of the $500,000 Breeders Crown for older pacers at Harrah’s Hoosier Park in 2020, will leave from post seven with Ronnie Wrenn, Jr. in the bike on Northfield’s half-mile oval. Century Farroh’s trainer Dr. Ian Moore said the post position makes it an extremely tough assignment.

“He’s doing very well, but it’s too bad we didn’t get a good draw because that is very critical,” Moore said. “(Northfield is) one of the toughest half-mile tracks to race on because it’s so tight. It’s just a circle, basically… We’ll need a little bit of luck.”

The Battle of Lake Erie features a solid lineup of veterans, including morning line favorite This Is The Plan (2-1, post 3, trainer Ron Burke, driver Yannick Gingras); Western Joe (7-2, post 1, Chris Choate, Aaron Merriman); Stars Align A (4-1, post 4, Jennifer Bongiorno, Joe Bongiorno) and Little Rocket Man (8-1, post 2, Melissa Essig, John De Long). The field also features 11-year-old wonder horse Southwind Amazon (20-1, post 8, Paul Holzman, Tony Hall), a career winner of 108 races and $1.2 million that has already won nine of 18 starts this year.

Five-year-old Century Farroh comes into Saturday’s tilt off a solid win on May 22 in the $22,000 Open I at Scioto Downs in Columbus, OH and has been installed at 6-1 in the morning line. The Ontario-sired son of Mach Three—Beachy Girl was driven to the 1:49.4 victory by Ronnie Wrenn, Jr. Prior to that, Century Farroh had posted two close runner-up finishes in Open action at Scioto.

In his three pari-mutuel starts so far this year, Century Farroh has also drawn outside, landing the seven, eight and eight holes, respectively.

With racing set to resume soon in Ontario, Moore said he plans to ship Century Farroh back to the province on Tuesday (June 8). He said he’s been less than satisfied with having to send his horses to U.S.-based trainers to handle in his stead.

“I’m getting tired of not having the horses in my hand. I really am,” he said. “Every time I send horses away it rarely ever works for me… hopefully the border gets open soon, too.”

In 2020, Century Farroh, who was bred by Century Spring Farms of Gorrie, ON, earned $610,849 and posted a record of 4-4-4 in 16 starts for the Ratchford Stable of North Sydney, NS en route to his nation’s top seasonal honour. The pacer also won the $225,000 Dan Patch at Hoosier Park and was second in the $391,300 William Haughton at The Meadowlands. Lifetime, Century Farroh, a $17,000 yearling purchase, has earned just shy of $1.3 million and sports a record of 21-8-7 in 45 starts.

Watch and wager on Saturday’s card from Northfield Park through HPIbet.com.