By JAY BERGMAN for Breeders Crown
In 2005 Erv Miller and Roger Hammer were on
completely different sides of the racing
spectrum. Miller sent out the 1-2 Hambletonian
favorite that year in Classic Photo and Hammer piloted the upset race
winner Vivid Photo to victory in the
$1.5 million event one spot ahead of Classic
Photo.
Flash forward a few years and the two have partnered on
a Breeders Crown juvenile colt pace
contender named Up And Out, one of two prime
candidates that Miller and Hammer have in Crown action this weekend.
“Roger sent me Apogee Hanover last year (2011) to race
in Ontario and she did very well so we
decided to go in on a couple of horses,”
said Erv Miller in regard to the recent association.
Apogee Hanover,
entered in Saturday’s Breeders Crown elimination races for three-year-old fillies, has earned more than
$540,000 racing north of the border for
Miller and sole owner Hammer. The daughter of 2005 Breeders Crown champ Jereme’s Jet was a $27,000 yearling purchase
at the Harrisburg auction in 2010.
For $40,000 Hammer and Miller took home Up And Out
at Harrisburg this past fall and again
it was a yearling by Jereme’s Jet. “He was
just a good looking colt. He had great conformation,” said Miller.
“The Jereme's Jets were well received the first year but
didn’t really click. I think that’s why
this colt went a little unnoticed.”
Actually those watching Up And Out for much of this season could have said the same thing about
him, as the colt that was virtually
invisible on the Ontario stakes scene until the last four to five weeks.
“He’s needed time to mature,” said Miller about the
progress the gelding has made over the
course of the campaign which included just one win (a Dream Maker preliminary) in his first
seven starts and three impressive scores
in his last four races. The most recent effort, an awesome eighth-to-first launch in the $130,000
Ontario Sire Stakes Gold final at Mohawk
on September 28, was confirmation that Up And Out was a real player in
this division.
His final quarter of :26 2/5 was paced coming wide off
the final turn. He completed the mile in
a personal best 1:52 3/5.
“I don’t know if
he could put four quarters together like that in a race just yet, but he
has a really high burst of speed,” said
Miller.
Up And Out drew the pole
position for Friday’s first elimination race at Woodbine (race 2) but at
the same time landed in the same field
with division leader Captaintreacherous.
Miller has been quite happy with the way young Doug McNair has handled the horse thus far.
“Doug’s done a great
job with him and he seems to know how to get the most out of the horse,”
said Miller.
Though this will be the first open test for Up And Out
the circumstances could be ideal.
“I think he’s heading into this race really sharp,” said Miller alluding to
the fact that some of the others in the
field have been through some tougher races along the way and may have more wear and tear.
“We took it easy on him earlier in the year with an eye towards the late season.”
Up And Out has a unique pedigree being from the Cambest-sired mare Mellow Out.
She’s a half-sister to one of the
toughest Ontario-breds of alltime, Duke Of Abby, a near $1 million
winner during his illustrious career
that included a third place finish in the 1996 North America Cup contested at Woodbine. Another
close relative to Up And Out is Road
Machine, a $900,000-plus winner primarily in Ontario that finished third
in the 1990 North America Cup.
With that kind of pedigree it’s easy to see why Miller has his sights set down the road
and is in his words “cautiously
optimistic” about his chances over the next two weekends. Should Up And
Out remain strong he could go in the
$300,000 Ontario Sire Stakes Super Final slated
for November 10 at Woodbine.
With 14 entered in the 2-year-old colt pace two seven horse elims will go postward
with the first five finishers in each
elim advancing to the final.
All eliminations are US $25,000. Elimination winners may pick their post position, drawn
on Saturday night at Woodbine
Friday, October 19, 2012 – 7:30 p.m. Post
$600,000 Breeders
Crown Two-Year-Old Colt Pace 1st $25,000 Elim – Race 2
1- Up And Out-D McNair2-Vegas Vacation-Scott Zeron
3-Emeritus Maximus-Andy Miller
4-Captaintreacherous-Tim Tetrick
5-Twilight Bonfire-John Campbell
6-Dress The Part-John Campbell
7-Rockin Amadeus-Yannick Gingras
2nd $25,000 Elim –
Race 4
1-Urbanite
Hanover Ron Pierce2-Good Day Mate Dave Palone
3-Wake Up Peter Scott Zeron
4-Fool Me Once Ron Pierce
5-Apprentice Hanover Jody Jamieson
6- Dewey Beach Sylvain Filion
7-Captive Audience Brian Sears
