White Bliss makes
second career start for Swedish connections on November 21
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ (November 19, 2014) – A
once-in-a-generation horse will race at Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment
Friday night November 21 at 7:15 p.m. White Bliss, a registered white standardbred,
will make his second career start in Friday’s first race. The race kicks off a
championship weekend at “The Big M” featuring the $5.5 million Breeders Crown,
a 12-race series that annually helps determine harness racing’s year-end
champions.
White standardbreds make up less than one-percent of the
entire breed. In fact, the odds of White Bliss being born completely white was
a 1 in 200,000 longshot since his parents were both bay or brown in color.
White Bliss is the first white standardbred born to bay-colored parents in
North America since 1998.
“We are delighted that White Bliss can make his final start
of the season at The Meadowlands,” said Swedish owner Tristan Sjoberg. “Due to
a bout of colic and then illness he has made his debut very late in the season,
but he has improved with each qualifier.”
White Bliss was purchased at the 2013 Standardbred Horse
Sale in Harrisburg, PA for an impressive $240,000 by Sjoberg, who bought the
horse as a Christmas present for his mother.
Trained by fellow Swede Ake Svanstedt, White Bliss finished
third in his first career race on November 11 at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.
“He was boxed in for most of his debut race, but showed an
impressive turn of speed in the lightning lane on the home stretch,” explained
Sjoberg. “We are hoping that he can develop further over the winter months and
we have set our sights on most of the major stakes races in 2015. After Friday
he heads down to Florida to work on his tan for a few months before training for
the 3YO season starts in earnest. In the stable at Legend Farm, he is placed
right next to Sebastian K so I hope ‘Seabass’ has given Bliss some tips how to
run fast.”
The $5.5 million Breeders Crown championships will also be
raced at “The Big M” this weekend.
