East
Rutherford, NJ - The 2015 Hambletonian Day card on Saturday, August 8 at
The Meadowlands has all the elements necessary to be one of the great events in
harness racing history.
The races will begin at
noon with a $40,000 Open Pace and over the next six hours 164 horses will
compete in 16 races for purses of just over $4 million, led by the $1.2 million
Hambletonian and the $500,000 Hambletonian Oaks.
The story line for the
Hambletonian became far more interesting when trainer Ron Burke entered
the great filly Mission Brief in the open event, bypassing the
Oaks and taking on last year's Hambo winning
trainer/driver Jimmy Takter's five horse armada in the process.
The drama
increased when Yannick Gingras, the regular driver for Mission Brief and
Takter's top contender Pinkman, was named on both horses for the
race. The two drew into separate divisions of the eliminations
heats which will allow Yannick to drive each in their respective
elimination before having to make a choice for the final, assuming both
qualify.
Pinkman's late season
rally as a freshman made him the champion of the division at two and he has
defended his title with nearly flawless form this season. The most
accomplished of the Takter five, Pinkman has won the Earl Beal, Stanley Dancer
and Harry M. Zweig Memorials (all major stakes) in his last three start and
has made well in excess of $1 million over his career for owners
Christina Takter, John & Jim Fielding, Joyce McClelland and Herb Liverman.
He is saddled with the far outside post ten in the first
elimination.
Mission Brief has found
the form that dazzled fans last season and was really keen to go in her most
recent start, the Filly Zweig Memorial. The Muscle Hill lass is poetry in
motion when on her game and has drawn the favorable post two in the
nine horse second division for Burke Racing, Our Horse Cents, J&T Silva and
Weaver Bruscemi.
The $1,000,000
Hambletonian final is race 13 and is scheduled to go to post at 5:15 pm.
The Hambletonian Oaks is
a very well matched group of ten talented fillies. With the defection of
Mission Brief to the main event and the tragic demise of elimination winner and
consensus "horse to beat" Spirit To Win in a Monday morning
training mishap, the race becomes a wide-open affair. Lock Down Lindy won her
split in 1:51.4, starts from the inside for owners Mystical Marker Farms,
Crawford Partners, Joe Sbrocco and In The Gym Partners and is currently
doing her best work.
Wiggle It Jiggleit,
currently the most exciting horse in harness, will race in the $319,400 Cane
Pace, the first leg of pacing's Triple Crown (race 10). Wiggle It Jiggleit
has been absolutely monstrous all season long and is coming into the Cane fresh
off three weeks rest. He is a family project with young Montrell Teague driving
the Meadowlands Pace winner for his father George's stable and trainer
Clyde Francis.
The $109,500 Shady Daisy
for the sophomore pacing fillies is another chapter in a season that has
seen a very evenly matched group slug it out over the past two months
with no filly able to rise above the others just yet.
The very best aged
performers in the game are out in force on Saturday and account for
several of the most competitive and entertaining races on the program.
Eleven pacing mares will
race the route distance of nine furlongs in the $251,250 Lady Liberty (race 3).
These mares may parade like ladies but when the starter says
"Go" the gloves come off and the girls throw down. The Bamond
family's absolutely iron-tough Anndrovette has won four division titles, $3.3
million and the Golden Girls stake last month here against many of these
at the same distance when it looked like she may have lost a step. Well, she
hasn't.
This year's edition of
the US Pacing Championship is up next and offers a purse of $215,400 to a
field of nine really good horses...make that eight really good and one great
horse. The venerable $7 million winner Foiled Again has recently shown
flashes of his best form after a slow start to the season for Burke Racing,
Weaver Bruscemi and JJK Stables. He raced about as good as he ever has in the
Haughton Memorial three weeks ago and had plenty of pace but no place to
use it in last week's TVG Open. Foiled is also being honored with a
Breyer likeness giveaway to all the kids that come out on Saturday.
The $301,500 John
Cashman Memorial (open) and $181,450 Fresh Yankee (mares) feature trotting's
elite in bulky fields at a mile and one eighth in races 5 and 6. All the stars
of the division are on the racetrack in these trotting classics.
Magic Tonight returns
home a champion, having won this year's Elitlopp in May for Swedish owner A. O
J Konsult and trainer Roger Walmann. The expatriate son of Andover Hall faces a
very deep field of eleven rivals including 2012 Hambletonian winner Market
Share who is competing at the highest level on Hambo Day for a remarkable
fourth consecutive season.
The Fresh Yankee is a
brand new stake for mare trotters and the inaugural edition just could not have
drawn a more stellar field. "Queen" Bee A Magician is the undisputed monarch
of her division having won seven of eight starts this year including
several versus mixed company while passing the $3 million career earnings mark
along the way for owners Mel Hartman, Herb Liverman and Dave McDuffee.
"What about the
young horses," you may ask. Well, the $389,450 Jim Doherty for
fillies (race 2) and $349,850 Peter Haughton (race 7) for colts
memorialize two of the game's legends with the first high-dollar opportunity
for the freshmen.
Broadway Donna looks
like a top filly, having dispensed of all competition with minimal effort thus
far, including the fastest Doherty elimination last week for Jules Siegel's
Fashion Farm. Woman's Will and Kathy Parker were the other elim winners and
will seek the upset.
Southwind Frank is the
favorite going into the Haughton, having won three of four thus far including
both the NJSS final and his Haughton elimination with the greatest of
ease. He is another from the Ron Burke barn and races for the same partnership
as Mission Brief on what could be a huge day for those connections.
You want Wagering opportunities? We got
'em. There are $275,000 worth of guaranteed pools spread over several
horizontal wagers and the day ends with a $231,403 carryover on the 8%
take-out Jackpot Hi-5. With this the close of the 2015
Championship Meet, this wager takes on "Mandatory Pay Out" status
which will create huge interest and great value, potentially driving the
pool into seven figures. Programs will be available here
and in the Daily Racing Form.
If you can't make it
live, the Hambletonian will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network from 4:00
to 5:30pm and is available in Hi-Def on TRN. The races are also available
via live streaming from The Meadowlands website.
There are a ton of promotions going on
throughout the plant all day long including the ever-popular Hambo hat
giveaway.
It's the greatest day of
the year in harness racing and it all happens at The Meadowlands on Saturday.
