By
Perry Lefko for Breeders Crown
It’s been a great year for Rick and Scott Zeron and what would
make it even better is winning a Breeders Crown race, something the
father-and-son have yet to do in their illustrious careers.
Rick, one of the sport’s best all-around horsemen, has driven in
39 Breeders Crown races, his best finishes a couple of seconds with Armbro
Rosebud in the 1997 Two-Year-Old Filly Pace and Soulful Hanover in the 2000
Three-Year-Old Filly Trot. Soulful Hanover also represented his best finish in
13 starts as a trainer.
Scott has driven in 44 Breeders Crown races, his best result a
second-place finish with Cee Bee Yes in the 2014 Three-Year-Old Filly Trot.
If the racing gods are co-operative, the Zerons will celebrate
their first Breeders Crown wins with Shamballa in the Open Pace in this year’s
event at the Meadowlands, a track which has been kind to both members of Team
Zeron in 2016.
Scott drove Shamballa to victory for his father in August in the
U.S. Pacing Championship, upsetting a field that included the likes of Wiggle
It Jiggleit and Always B Miki. Both are entered in the Open Pace.
On the same card that he steered Shamballa to victory, Scott won
the Hambletonian with Marion Marauder, who subsequently went on to sweep the
Trotting Triple Crown. Scott will be driving Marion Marauder in the Three-Year-Old
Colt & Gelding Trot. He also has several other drives in the two-day
championship event.
Rick said Shamballa has a shot considering he has drawn the two
hole in the field of 10, the same starting position in which he won the U.S.
Pacing Championship, after drawing the outside post in his last three races.
“Miki has the four hole and Wiggle It has the seven hole, so
you’re going to have some outside flow moving and the rail horse leaves so I’m
looking for good things,” Rick said. “Scott is really happy with the draw and,
cross our fingers, we’ll see if we can get our picture taken with a Breeders
Crown trophy on Friday. That would be an extra boost if we can get this done.
It would be a great achievement for Team Zeron. I’d be ecstatic to win a
Breeders Crown. I have no words to describe it. I’d have to wait until it
happens and then I could give you the words. Right now we’re in the Breeders
Crown and we drew good and I’m looking for good things.
“I thought I was going to win it with Soulful Hanover. I came from
about ninth at the head of the lane and finished second by 1½ lengths, beaten
by Aviano. It was the shot that I thought I was going to win, and I think we’ve
got a shot this week, too.”
Shamballa, a six-year-old gelding by Somebeachsomewhere, has won
four of 16 races this season and almost $400,000 for an ownership group that
includes Rick.
“I got him late when he was a four-year-old,” Rick said. “I raced
him late at five. I trained him like the Europeans train their trotters to have
them strong at six, seven and eight. He’s done everything that I’ve asked of
him. We came up light in the Canadian Pacing Derby (finishing seventh by five
lengths). He got a little bit sick on me. I kind of let some money go out the
door there, but he’s made close to $400,000 this year and I’m happy with that.
We’ve got two more races this year – the Breeders Crown and the TVG – so
hopefully we can get some money in there and get him over the $1 million mark.”
Rick was originally scheduled to drive Windsun Revenge in the Open
Trot, but the ownership group of Van Camp Trotting Corp., Robert Van Camp and
trainer Jeff Durham asked the patriarch if he would allow his son to drive.
Scott had been listed to drive to Il Sogno Dream.
“My son has a great head on his shoulders,” Rick said. “He’s very
confident in himself. He prides himself in looking good all the time. He works
out more than most 27-year-olds. He keeps himself in as good a shape as a horse
trainer can keep a top horse in shape. He handles himself extremely well and he
holds in his nerves in big races. He analyzes things extremely well. He knows
when he’s got a shot to put his horse into the race and he knows when he
doesn’t have that good of a shot to fall off the gate and try and get the owner
as much money as he can.
“He’s learning every day, which I’m extremely happy about because
a lot of young drivers stop learning because they think they know it all. My
son learns every day.”
Scott left the Ontario circuit three years ago to race full-time
in the U.S., in particular at the Meadowlands, and he’s become one of the
top-10 earners, currently sitting in the top-five this season with more than
$7.5 million.
“It all comes down to the Breeders Crown,” Scott said. “I’ve been
close a couple times. I’ve had very good chances to do it and have come up just
short. To me it’s not the same thing as the Hambletonian where you get one race
once a year. We have 12 Breeders Crown races, so I have a good chance of doing
it – a very difficult one, too. It’s missing on the résume, but I’ll get the Breeders Crown win sooner
rather than later.
“It would be gigantic to win with Shamballa. A lot of the fact is
it’s my Dad’s horse and we have such a great relationship. The other element is
you’re battling the Goliaths every single time we get behind the gate in that
division with Wiggle It Jiggleit and Always B Miki. When I won the U.S. Pacing
Championship, it was all the emotions of winning for my Dad and being a giant
slayer. It’s a big, big deal winning that division and the added incentive of
winning it with my Dad.”
Scott is also excited about the prospect of winning with Marion
Marauder, who would be in contention for Horse of the Year if the son of Muscle
Hill won in the Breeders Crown.
“I feel like there’s a lot riding on this race in that respect,”
he said. “I want Horse of the Year just for the magnitude of the races he’s won
and what he’s done. It’s so hard to argue against Miki and Wiggle because they
race 30 starts a year. They are in the box every week, racing non-stop in all
their dances, whereas my horse will have 15 starts. It’s so tough. I can’t be
the attraction that those horses are because they are always racing.
“We pick our spots because we’re only a three-year-old, but the
magnitude and prestige of the races that my horse has won it’s a big deal to
get this last one.”
The complete field for the
$421,000 Breeders Crown Pace is as follows:
Race 7: post time 9:35 p.m.
Post Position, Horse,
Driver, Trainer, Morning Line
1 – Split the House – Brian
Sears – Chris Oakes- 25-1
2 – Shamballa – Scott Zeron
– Rick Zeron- 8-1
3 – Mach It So – Tim Tetrick
– Jeff Bamond- 20-1
4 – Always B Miki – David
Miller – Jimmy Takter-6/5
5 – Dealt a Winner – Andy
Miller – Mark Silva-15-1
6 – All Bets Off – Matt
Kakaley – Ron Burke-15-1
7 – Wiggle It Jiggleit –
Montrell Teague – Clyde Francis-8/5
8 – Luck Be Withyou – Brett
Miller – Chris Oakes-12-1
9 – Melmerby Beach – Yannick
Gingras – Ettore Annunziata-40-1
10 – Americanprimetime –
Andrew McCarthy – Rick Dane-40-1
