Jim Bruce is hoping to have a million reasons to cheer later this month.
The local businessman who owns LaHuerta Imports and Average Joe's Restaurant in North Bay could be striking it rich as his horse, AVOMAN, won the Plate Trial last Sunday at Woodbine Race Track in Toronto.
That allows the three-year-old Dark Bay or Brown Gelding trained by Don McRae and jockeyed by Antonio Gallardo to race for the million-dollar purse on August 22 at the Queen's Plate.
'It has been very interesting," said Bruce, who is also the owner and President of the Powassan Voodoos Junior 'A' hockey team.
"The horse is three years old, he won a stake race last year. His first trip out he ran against older horses and finished third and then we put him into the plate trial which was last Sunday and he finished first."
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Sunday's victory brings Avoman's purse totals to $137,314 since last summer and $80,278 alone in 2021.
"Horses are rated by speed, calls the 'beyer's speed' so his 'beyer's speed' is an 84 which puts him in the top four horses currently for the Queen's Plate."
Bruce, whose son Graeme is the co-owner of Avoman, named the horse after an avocado, which is the primary fruit import for LaHuerta Imports.
Bruce says it is hard to describe the feeling when he saw Avoman finish on top last week.
"It was heart-stopping," he said.
"It was kind of an unbelievable experience. A minute and some 50 some seconds and your adrenaline is just pumping and you go from a very high to a very low because you are exhausted after the 1:52 seconds."
Bruce says the key to victory at the Queen's Plate will be a good start.
"He needs to get out of the gate clean and he needs to get a position close to the rails so that he can save some ground and as they come down the stretch he should have some gas in the tank to give him a boost to get him to the finish line first," said Bruce.
So what will Jim Bruce be doing on August 22?
"I will be sitting in my suite at the Queen's Plate with my fingers crossed taking deep breaths."
