With the Championship Meet at The Meadowlands nearly upon
us, The Road to The Meadowlands Pace has begun.
The 2014 Road to the Pace is quite different than the 2013
edition. One year ago, just 30 horses were nominated with 29 still
eligible after the first sustaining payment. A large factor in this was
the presence of Captaintreacherous. With no standout performer and
improvements made to the payment schedule of The Meadowlands Pace in 2014, 59
three year olds were nominated to The Meadowlands signature event and 56 of
those 59 made the March sustaining payment.
Each week leading up to the event, Director of Racing
Operations and Oddsmaker Darin Zoccali will publish an installment of “The Road
to The Meadowlands Pace,” with the first installment available today. The
publication features a top 10 of Meadowlands Pace contenders, each of which is
assigned a spring-book morning line for the event and includes updated
information regarding earnings, lifetime mark, trainer, driver and also
includes some of Zoccali’s thoughts on each horse.
He’s Watching will begin as the #1 horse in Zoccali’s
rankings, set at 4-1. “He was voted as the Two Year Old Pacing Champion
last year. He deserves to be on top of the rankings until he gives me a reason
that he shouldn’t be. It’s a wide open year and I expect a lot more
movement through the rankings this year as opposed to last year when it seemed
to be Captaintreacherous and nine others each week.”
One horse not in the rankings is Arthur Blue Chip as it was
announced via Standardbred Canada that the Ian Moore trained colt suffered a
stall injury and would miss a “significant part of the year.” Zoccali
initially had Arthur Blue Chip listed at #2 in the rankings prior to the
injury.
Conspicuous by his absence in the top 10 is National Debt,
the undefeated winner of The Buddy Gilmour Series earlier this year at The
Meadowlands. “I am sure some in the industry would have him in the top
10,” said Zoccali. “But as of now, the only Meadowlands Pace eligible that
he has defeated is Capital Account and while his upside and potential is
immense, I want to see what he does against these quality horses before moving
him up on the list. But make no mistake, he is on the doorstep.”
The complete Road To The Meadowlands Pace is available at http://www.meadowlandspace.com/pdf/Road_To_The_Pace-Week1.pdf
and will be updated each week.
