by Frank Cotolo
It’s open season in the sophomore-pacing division since two of the top highly regarded two-year-olds from last year won’t be around for a while, if at all, this year. So the glamour boys of sidestepping are battling it out on many fronts.
Two of the major events take place on Saturday, June 13. One of them is the $500,000 New Jersey Classic Final, restricted to state-breds, at the Meadowlands and the other is the $421,850 Art Rooney Pace at Yonkers.
The New Jersey Classic held a pair of elims on Saturday, June 6 to fill the final’s field with 10 colts. The star of these miles was the winner of the first elim, Dial Or Nodial, who has gained more respect after the tanking of Major In Art and Nebupaneezar.
Dial Or Nodial, conditioned by Jim Campbell, had won his second start of the season in a personal-best 1:50.1 in the $200,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Championship on May 30. At two he won eight of 12 starts and $414,124. The son of Western Ideal is now on the thin layer of cream for this crop and is intimidating all horsemen involved in the final.
Even Blair Burgess, trainer of Passmaster Hanover, the second elim’s winner, wasn’t very excited about his horse’s chances in next week’s contest. Burgess said of his colt, “I don’t know what to expect of him. [In the final] I would be happy for any piece of it.”
Second to “Dial” was Sombrero Blue Chip, racing way better than 13-1 and making the final for trainer Bruce Saunders and ever-aggressive Yannick Gingras. All one could hope for in the final is that Dial is tested so hard by “Passmaster” and perhaps that one’s stable mate Vintage Master (who was second in the second elim) too, that “Sombrero” will inherit a great last hundred yards. If he does, he will do so at a price.
Over the river in New York, seven soph-pacing colts are entered in the “Rooney” final.
Barber Pole, twice in winner in four starts this year, looks to give trainer George Teague, Jr. a third-straight winner of this event. Teague had Southwind Lynx in 2007, and Badlands Nitro last year. Barber Pole, a son of Badlands Hanover (as was “Nitro”) scored a 1:49 win earlier this season at the Meadowlands.
Fireintheshark was a promising soph after a frosh season earning $172,000, with 11 of 16 in the money but was terrible in his first two efforts at three. Jim Campbell, who sends Dial in the Meadowlands’ affair on this same night, trains him.
New York-bred Hypnotic Blue Chip has been busy in 2009, starting 11 times and winning seven. If I Can Dream returns to stakes company as a sophomore after a late-season surge at two. He won two overnights so far. Mobile has won only his ’09 seasonal debut at the Meadows. Monkey Off My Back did not race at two but has won twice in seven starts at three in overnights at the Meadowlands. Finally, Venice Menace comes to the Rooney spotless, having won all four of his 2009 starts.
Venice Menace is the fresh and promising hero in this group and can surely improve with a good trip here. As the division’s competition widens, why not look at an up-and-coming entity with great breeding and no knowledge of how to lose yet?
Hambo-watch
We continue with our exclusive views of soph colts and fillies on the road to the Hambletonian as potential Hambo and Hambo Oaks participants keep coming and offer great betting opportunities.
Muscle Hill, the early favorite for the $1.5-million Hambletonian, won his 2009 debut easily on Thursday, June 4, at the Meadowlands. The mile was a career-best 1:53.1 against state-breds in a sires stakes leg.
“Physically, he’s grown up and filled out,” said driver Brian Sears. “Obviously, he’s maturing and getting faster.”
Last year “Hill” won over $800,000 while losing only one of nine starts. He is a son of Hambo-champ Muscles Yankee and is trained by Greg Peck, who said he feels this is the best crop of three-year-old colt trotters he has ever seen. “It’s going to be a tough year,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of really good horses and we’re aware of them. We are going to go straight through [the summer racing] at the Meadowlands.”
Another Peck-trained horse is on the stage of this sterling crop. That colt is My Back Pages, who won the same night as Hill in another state-bred event. Driver George Brennan said “Pages” makes no mistakes and “he’s really well-gaited.” Pages, you may recall, was beaten by Road Rash, a 75-1 shot, two weeks back. Pages made just two starts as a freshman before ankle issues put him on the sidelines.
Wedding Dress, a Muscles Yankee filly, lost against her division when she broke badly at the start on June 3. Chuck Sylvester’s student beat the boys last time out but went off here at an astounding 8-1.
As we mentioned last week, the soph-filly-and-colt contests offer some hefty overlays en route to the Hambo and Hambo Oaks. The quartet of sires-stakes for fillies on June 3 was a field day for outsiders. Rapsong won at 9-1; Celebrity Athena won at 30-1; and Magic Carpet Ride won at 29-1. The lone winner, Southwind Wasabi, was the only near favorite, winning at 3-1.
Wager log
Our freebee last week, Dragon King, at 11-1, was fourth in a blanket finish on June 6.
For the first time in three decades, harness horses will race on the turf at the Meadowlands. On Friday, June 19, eight $15,000 claiming pacers get behind the starting gate for a mile event on the New Jersey grass.
Great Britain and Ireland standardbred activity, usually limited to single-day meets and fairs, has only recently in its history gone to dirt racing. These were the only two venues in the world consistently using the grass surface for harness racing.
The Meadowlands harness turf race will be part of the betting program. This department encourages more turf-surface harness miles; it could mean more competitive miles if it is not used solely as a novelty.
For more than three decades, Frank Cotolo has been active in pari-mutuel racing as a player and an author. Aside from articles in Gambling Times, Sulky and Turf & Sport, he was the editor of TIMES: in harness magazine (in print and on line) for fifteen years and won a John Hervey Award—the industry’s top writing honor.
The opinions of Youbet Update writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Youbet.com or its subsidiaries.
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