by Frank Cotolo
As the standardbred industry justly rewards the divisions’ crowns for 2009, we congratulate all of the connections and we applaud the achievements of their horses. The winners are no surprise to those of us who followed the season closely. The Horse of the Year is bound to be Muscle Hill. That will be official, along with the title of Pacer of the Year, when the U.S. Harness Writers Association announces all of the award-winners at the organization’s annual dinner, Feb. 28 at Yonkers Raceway in New York.Meanwhile, the other division champs have already been confirmed. They are Lucky Chucky (two-year-old male trotter), Sportswriter (two-year-old male pacer), Poof She’s Gone (two-year-old filly trotter), Fancy Filly (two-year-old filly pacer), Broadway Schooner (three-year-old filly trotter), Well Said, (three-year-old male pacer), Yellow Diamond (three-year-old filly pacer, Lucky Jim (older male trotter), Buck I St Pat (older female trotter), Won The West (older male pacer) and Southwind Tempo (older female pacer).
However …
Though some of those may have been the fancy of many harness players throughout the year, most die hard harness bettors, like myself, tend to see the champion picture a bit differently than those inside the industry. For many years I was an “insider” of the industry, having been a rare import from the aprons of harness tracks around North America. I can appreciate the laurels of the top moneymakers, the big stakes-winning colts and fillies from both gaits and I understand the objective role of history in the making of champions.
However …
A bettor at heart, my champs for each year –even those years I spent as a top journalist inside the sport—have rarely matched the names that adorn the record books. This is because as a bettor I am loyal to the horses that helped make my wagering season a winning season or, at the least, helped it not turn into a catastrophe, by sharing their victories with me when I bet on them.
Through the 2009 season I found some extraordinary overlays and some of them came through. These horses will provide my personal remembrances of the year. Don’t get me wrong, I will remember the scourge of Muscle Hill’s sweep through the colt-trotters’ ranks with awe (and a few other of the industry’s crowned champs) but when push came to shove I had to bet against him every time I decided to bet at all in a race where he appeared. That’s because no betting fan of Muscle Hill could have profited much if at all from the prices he presented winning a dozen races.
So it was that the top soph-colt pacer, Well Said, did not get my vote for his division. From the beginning of 2009 I shared with readers the promise of a horse named If I Can Dream and that horse continued to deliver rewards for those who followed him with me, including a defeat over the division champion. For me, If I Can Dream is the Horse of the Year, no less Pacer of the Year and Three-Year-Old Colt Pacer of the Year.
Unlike the industry’s lineup of champs, my list does not cover every division. Remember, I crown champs based on what they earned for me as a bettor. Also, I can have multiple winners in my year-end laurels. Such is the case with Three-Year-Old Colt Pacer of the Year. Sharing with If I Can Dream is Annieswesterncard, who we gave out to win the Berry’s Creek and who won it at $21.40. He teamed later to be second to If I Can Dream in a Meadowlands Pace elim. “Dream” was 3-1 and he was 50-1, igniting an exacta over $200.
My Two-Year-Old Trotting Filly award goes to Poof She’s Gone, who we gave out here to win the Merrie Annabelle, which she won, paying $14.40. And a special Four-Year-Old Gelding of the Year award goes to Art Glass, who we had at Pocono in an overnight with an $80.40 win price. We backed Broadway Schooner when she counted most and she came through, winning our Three-Year-Old Trotter award.
As you go over your records for 2009, applaud those horses that made your season of wagering worthwhile. Make them your personal champs. These are the horses that are most important to the bettor, even though in the annals of history they may be but an afterthought.
Bits and pieces
Next week the Meadowlands begins its winter series action. On Jan. 6 the first leg of the Super Bowl for four-year-old-and-under trotters opens the season with a $12,500 leg. The next day the White Ruffles for mare pacers launches, followed by Jan. 8’s first leg of the Clyde Hirt Series for four-year-old-and-under stallions and geldings and leg one of the Complex Pacing Series for non-winners of four races or $125,000.
In the “Hirt,” Real Joke became a serious contender with a win at the track on Jan. 2. It was his first start for trainer Julie Miller, who along with husband-driver Andy Miller, made a hero of Lucky Jim in 2009. Real Joke won over Majestic Jackpot, also a Hirt contender.
A horse we encouraged you to watch, Tidewater Tomahawk, won at the track on Jan. 2 prepping for the Presidential. The public dismissed him in the $27,000 event and he paid $15.40. Tidewater Tomahawk, now a four-year-old, is eligible to the three-week Complex Series for trainer Ron Burke.
The big feature is the Saturday, Jan. 9 first leg of the Presidential Series for older pacers. The $50,000 mile turns the early stakes season over to the stalwart sidesteppers. On Jan. 2, Blatantly Good gave warning that he is to reckon with in the series. The six-year-old posted his third-straight win in a $32,000 Invitational for trainer Mark Kesmodel.
Meadowlands will follow a Wednesday through Sunday racing schedule beginning Jan. 6. Post times are 7 p.m. except for Sunday, with a first post of 1:10 p.m. EST.
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.
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