However, the 2011 Meadowlands Pace winner earned his honors the old fashion way – on the racetrack, retiring after his November 12 victory in the Messenger Stakes with a career record of eight wins, six seconds and three thirds from 23 starts and earnings of $1,805,102.
The New Jersey Department of Agriculture will honor Roll With Joe, who was nominated by the Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association of New Jersey, at the 55th Annual New Jersey Breeders Awards Luncheon at 1 p.m. on January 15, 2012 at Charley’s Other Brother in Eastampton Township, NJ.
The son of Cam’s Card Shark-Classic Wish started life with high expectations. His full brother, Bettor’s Delight, had won more than $2.5 million on the track before he retired to stallion duty in 2002 and his three-quarter brother, No Pan Intended, was 2003 Horse of the Year, banking more than $1.5 million.
When Roll With Joe [rollwithjoe.com] passed through the sales ring at the 2009 Lexington Selected Sale, he was hammered down for $100,000 with his breeder, Joe and Joann Thomson’s Winbak Farm in Chesapeake City, MD, retaining an interest in partnership with owners Thomas Grossman and Michael Kimelman of Blue Chip Bloodstock, Inc. of Wallkill, NY; Stephen Demeter of Tarrytown, NY and Sheila Baird and Scott Kimelman’s Not To Worry Stable of New York City.
Among the colt’s stakes highlights in 2011 was his neck victory in the $1 million Meadowlands Pace on July 16 in which he paced the mile in 1:48.2 in what would be his first pairing with driver Ron Pierce since a baby race on June 17, 2010. Pierce would subsequently be at the lines for victories in the $500,000 Battle of Brandywine on August 21 at Chester and the $401,000 Messenger at Yonkers as well as second-place finishes in the Little Brown Jug and the Breeders Crown. In the $500,000 Breeders Crown for Three-Year-Old Pacers at Woodbine, “Joe” was nosed out by Betterthancheddar.
Roll With Joe helped to make a career year for well-respected trainer Edward Hart of Middletown, NY whose season’s bankroll surpassed $2 million for the first time.
Tickets for the luncheon are $27.50 each and should be ordered from the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, Division of Markets & Development -- Horse Industry, PO Box 330, Trenton, NJ 08625 no later than January 3. Call 609-984-4389 for further information and menu selections.
n Submitted by Carol Hodes for SBOANJ
