East Rutherford, NJ - What is a racetrack to do when faced with following a Breeders
Crown weekend chock full of thrills? Why at The Meadowlands the response is to
come right back with the $1 million TVG Series Championship featuring the very
finest of the older set on both the trot and pace.
After following a season-long trail
of top class events that began in May and concluded with last Saturday’s Crown
Finals, the TVG Championships close out a fantastic season for the top Free For
Allers with year-end awards hanging in the balance.
The $500,000 Pacing Championship
comes as the seventh race on the card and offers a renewal of the thrilling
rivalry between Thinking Out Loud and Sweet Lou who have been duking it out in
headline events for the past three years.
“Lou” put together an unprecedented
string of six straight sub-1:48 miles during the heart of the summer season,
winning ten in a row once united with Hall of Fame driver Ron Pierce. He’s the
division’s top seasonal money winner with more than $1.1 million this season
and has amassed a lifetime bankroll of over $3.2 million for Burke Racing,
Weaver Bruscemi, Larry Karr and Phil Collura. They’ve enjoyed a great ride with
the son of Yankee Cruiser from Sweet Future who remains the fastest freshman of
all time with his 1:49 score in the 2011 Breeders Crown. Ron Burke has trained
Sweet Lou throughout his career, which comes to a close on Saturday as he goes
to stud at Diamond Creek Farm in Pennsylvania.
Thinking Out Loud is a pure
homebred, by Ponder from the mare Los Angeles, both raced in the stable
of his Hall of Fame trainer Bob McIntosh who shares ownership with brother
Al McIntosh and long-time patrons CSX Stable (brothers Keith, Ken and Mike
Carpenter). The winner of the 2012 North America Cup, Thinking Out Loud has
amassed over $1.8 million career-wise with $200,000 coming in last Saturday’s
Breeders Crown Final where he and driver John Campbell used every inch of the
long Meadowlands stretch to nail Sweet Lou on the wire. Known for his late
rallying style and nail-biting finishes, Thinking Out Loud comes to this race
near his best form.
Space does not permit the tale be
told of the depth present for the TVG Pacing Championship. Suffice to say that
these eight champions have amassed nearly $18.5 million in earnings and among
those not mentioned above are both the richest at $6.77 million, 2013 TVG
champion Foiled Again and co-fastest, Warrawee Needy at 1:46.4, pacers in the history of the sport.
Hoosier Pacing Derby winner
Bettor’s Edge, Canadian Pacing Derby champ Modern Legend, winner of the
inaugural Dayton Pacing Derby Clear Vision and Allerage Farms Open victor State
Treasurer complete the All Star line-up.
If it were possible to out-do the
race that I have just described, it could likely occur just three races later
in the $500,000 TVG Trotting Championship, where the career earnings of the ten
participants is over $21 million!
The Trotting Championship has
something for everybody; including the fastest trotter ever in Sebastian K who
set the trotting world on its ear with his epic 1:49 masterpiece at Pocono this
summer. Though his air of invincibility may have been breached, the majestic
Swedish invader racing for Knutsson Trotting has a chance to reassert himself
in Horse of the Year balloting in this contest. Ake Svanstedt trains and drives
the champion.
The competition is fierce, led by a
pair femme fatales who are just now finding their best form of the season. From
Sebastian K’s inside starts 2013 Horse of the Year Bee A Magician. She is the
winner of the Breeders Crown Mare Open Trot, thus the lone invitee to this race
as allowed by the TVG conditions. She was devastating in victory, scorching the
first quarter in 26.1 to line up the competition in her wake, then sprinting
home in 27.2 to hold them off in 1:51.4. Brian Sears was at his best in
orchestrating the winning trip on behalf of trainer Nifty Norman and owners Mel
Hartman, Herb Liverman and David McDuffee.
Maven made headlines when she
commanded a king’s ransom of $750,000 when offered at auction just three weeks
ago and has made buyer Herb Liverman look like the Warren Buffet of horse
racing since. Declining the chance to race the girls, she went into the Open
division of the Breeders Crown and won the elimination despite the disadvantage
of post ten. Another brave performance followed in the final of that race where
she not only survived a long, uncovered bid into International champion
Commander Crowe but was still inching in on his lead when the wire came in
1:51.
Maven begins again from the far
outside here but asks no quarter from her rivals. Top driver Yannick Gingras
will attempt to overcome the poor starting position in his quest to find the
best course to victory, as the pair has done many times. She is most recently trained
by Hall of Fame trainer Jimmy Takter and Mr. Liverman now has John Fielding and
Joyce McClelland as partners in the mare.
Beyond those three lurk such
talented trotters as last year’s TVG Champion, the $3.5 million winning Market
Share, Allerage Farms Open and American National winner Creatine, International
star and classics winner Wishing Stone, Maple Leaf Trot winner Intimidate,
ageless wonder, $4.2 million, multiple classics winning world record holder
Arch Madness, 2013 Ontario Sires Stakes champ Flanagan Memory and the iron
tough DW’s NY Yank.
These are but the highlights of a
titillating thirteen race Saturday night program at The Meadowlands. First post
is 7:15pm and the wagering options are many; multiple guaranteed Pick 4’s and
the brand new Super Hi Five wager with a building jackpot. More details may be
found at www.playmeadowlands.com .
