“I’ll go down when a horse takes me down there,” he said.
On Saturday, Arrigenna will attend the Hambletonian in person. Archangel
is bringing him there. And the horse might be bringing more than his trainer on
the trip.
Arrigenna, who is based in New York
about 20 miles south of Rochester Archangel advanced to Saturday’s $1.5
million Hambletonian final thanks to a second-place finish in last weekend’s
eliminations, the trip was expected to fill. Arrigenna’s son Mark and
daughter-in-law K risten are traveling
from Florida
Much of the interest in Arrigenna’s hometown area was spurred by
recent newspaper articles about Arrigenna and Archangel ,
including one in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle prior to the Hambletonian
eliminations.
“There are a lot of people that read the story and have come over
to the barn to see the horse,” said Arrigenna, who never raced at the
Meadowlands prior to Archangel ’s Hambletonian
elimination. “These are people that have never been to the races. They want to
go and see what this is all about. It’s great to help promote the sport.
There’s nothing better than what’s happening here to promote the harness racing
industry.”
Arrigenna, who competes primarily on the New
York circuit and is vice president of the board of directors of the
Harness Horse Breeders of New York State, owns Archangel
with Alan Hainsworth and Clare Semer. The colt is the top money-winning
3-year-old male trotter in North America this
year, with seven wins in nine starts for $446,157.
On July 7, Archangel won the
$445,594 Yonkers Trot, which is the first jewel in the Trotting Triple Crown,
in a world-record 1:54.1. The Hambletonian is the second, followed by the K entucky
Futurity on Oct. 7 at Lexington
Eight horses have won the Trotting Triple Crown, most recently
Glidemaster in 2006. CBS Sports Network will air the Hambletonian final from
3:30-5 p.m. Saturday.
In his Hambletonian elimination, Archangel
and driver Jim Morrill Jr. were in third place between Market Share and
favorite Little Brown Fox after an opening quarter-mile of 27 seconds, but
inherited the lead when Little Brown Fox went off stride and Market Share
remained in second place. Market Share took the lead in the stretch and posted
a 2-1/4 length win in 1:52.2, which was the fastest of the night’s three
Hambletonian elims.
“Going to the quarter pole, I’m glad I wasn’t sitting between
those horses as tight as it was,” Arrigenna said. “It was a tough quarter. Our
game plan was to sit in the two hole and sit behind Little Brown Fox and it
would have happened if (Little Brown Fox) wouldn’t have made a break.
“(Market Share) ended up getting the two-hole trip behind us;
that’s the trip I wanted. Watching the other divisions, it seems like none of
the front-end horses were finishing too well.”
Overall, Arrigenna was pleased with Archangel ’s
performance, which included a :27.4 last quarter-mile that was eclipsed by only
Market Share.
“I think he did well,” Arrigenna said. “From watching and talking
to people, I think you need a first time around the Meadowlands’ racetrack and
the second time they’ll get a little better. I can’t ask for anything better
than what he did. I was happy with everything.”
Prior to his Hambletonian elim, Archangel
posted a stakes-record 1:54.3 win in a division of the Tompkins-Geers Stakes at
Tioga Downs on July 21. Archangel’s other wins this year include the $233,250
Empire Breeders Classic (in a track-record 1:53.1 at Vernon Downs) and two legs
of the New York Sire Stakes.
A son of Credit Winner, Archangel
is the first foal of the multiple-stakes-winning mare Michelle’s Angel and was
purchased for $120,000 at the Standardbred Horse Sale.
“I’ve known Alan for quite a few years; he doesn’t live too far
from here,” Arrigenna said. “He’s had horses and he’d come by and talk. He
wanted to buy this horse and wanted me to train it and be partners on it. We
got together and got it done. Clare has had some horses with Alan and wanted to
come on board. The three of us went together on it and that was it. It’s worked
out very well.”
Last year, Archangel wore trotting
hobbles while on his way to three wins in 13 starts and $135,193 in purses.
This year, the trotting hobbles were removed prior to the start of his
campaign.
“That was a big plus,” said Arrigenna, who received the Upstate
New York Chapter of the U.S. Harness Writers Association’s Good Guy Award in
2010. “He really needed them at the beginning of the year; he just didn’t have
the confidence, especially in the first turn. Later in the year he was coming
along good, but I hated to change things.
“This year I didn’t even bother putting them on. I jogged him
through the winter and started training him and he showed me right off the bat
he didn’t need them. He’s just getting a lot of confidence and is starting to
come around. This is the best time it could happen, to peak right now.”
The only downside to not winning his elimination is it put Archangel
in the open draw for post position rather than giving his connections the
chance to select their starting spot for the Hambletonian final.
“Hopefully, we’ll get something halfway decent in there and
whatever happens, happens,” Arrigenna said. “You just have to race the way it
is.”
