Dontyouforgetit is small in
size, but races big.
A 3-year-old colt trotter
who last season trotted the fastest mile ever by a 2-year-old on a half-mile
track, Dontyouforgetit begins his 2013 campaign in Saturday afternoon’s
$139,600 Dexter Cup at Freehold Raceway. Dontyouforgetit faces six rivals and
starts from post No. 7 with trainer Jimmy Takter handling the driving.
The Dexter Cup kicks off the
road to August’s $1.2 million Hambletonian Stakes for 3-year-old trotters at
the Meadowlands. Last year’s Hambletonian winner, Market Share, began what
turned into a divisional championship campaign in the Dexter Cup, but lost a
shoe at the beginning of the race and finished seventh.
Among Saturday’s seven
Dexter Cup participants, Dontyouforgetit and Celebrity Maserati are eligible to
the Hambletonian.
Last year, Dontyouforgetit
won six of 10 starts, including the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship and
the Standardbred Stakes at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Ohio, where his
time of 1:55.3 set the world record for 2-year-olds on a half-mile oval. He won
by nearly 18 lengths.
Given the colt’s size,
Takter expects Dontyouforgetit to excel on the smaller tracks, such as
Freehold, which is also a half-mile oval. Other than the Hambletonian Stakes,
which is raced on the Meadowlands’ one-mile oval, most of Dontyouforgetit’s
major stakes are on five-eighths-mile or half-mile tracks.
“I’m going to manage him
more on the smaller tracks; I’m going to try to keep him there a little bit
more,” Takter said. “I’m not going to rush him for the big tracks. I have some
other horses I think are better on the big tracks. But who knows; size
sometimes doesn’t matter. He’s got long legs; he doesn’t look that small on the
track, actually.”
Dontyouforgetit is a son of
stallion Cantab Hall out of the stakes-winning mare Solveig, who was trained by
Takter and named after his mother. Dontyouforgetit was bred by Solveig’s
Breeders and is owned by Solveig’s Racing Partners, groups led by Takter’s
wife, Christina.
Takter is looking for his
second win in the Dexter Cup as a driver; he won in 1994 with Mr Lavec, who
went on to finish second in the Hambletonian. Takter also trained Dexter Cup
champs Not Afraid (2012), Anders Bluestone (2009) and Holiday Credit (2008).
Dontyouforgetit prepped for
the Dexter Cup with a 1:57.1 qualifier win last weekend at the Meadowlands. He
also won a qualifier in 2:00.4 at Freehold on April 18 after finishing third in
his first outing of the year five days earlier at the Meadowlands.
“He qualified really good
(at the Meadowlands),” Takter said. “I was happy with him. He wasn’t too good
the first qualifier, but I was happy with him at Freehold; he handled the track
very well. He was really sharp (Saturday).”
Dontyouforgetit will need to
overcome a difficult post position to win the Dexter Cup. Horses win at only a
5 percent clip from post No. 7 at Freehold. Post one is the best starting spot,
producing winners at a rate of 25 percent.
Takter hopes his colt has
the intangibles to beat the odds.
"He’s got heart; he’s got it
more than most horses,” Takter said. “I love his attitude. He’s got the best
attitude in the barn. He’s definitely a player.”
