Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Countdown for Breeders Crown Open Events Begins

July 17, 2006

The countdown for the $1.8 million Breeders Crown Open Events, to be raced Saturday, July 29, at the Meadowlands Racetrack has begun.

The $800,000 Breeders Crown Trot carries a supplemental tag of $100,000. Seven trotters have supplemented in past years, yet none have won the event. It is also a condition of the Crown Trot that invitations are issued to European and Australian foreign classic winners. The 2006 invitees, Gigant Neo [Prix d’Amerique], Delft N [Interdominion Trot], Malabar Circle Ås [Gran Premio Lotteria] and Conny Nobell [Elitlopp] all declined the invitations.

The price for ineligible horses to enter the $500,000 Breeders Crown Pace is $62,500. Red Bow Tie remains the only supplemental entry to win the open pace – and he did it twice. To race in the $300,000 Mare Pace, an ineligible mare must pay $37,500. Ron’s Girl was the only successful distaffer of the nine mares who have tried the supplemental route.

The $250,000 Mare Trot bears a supplemental fee of $31,250. CR Kay Suzie, who supplemented into this event as a 3-year-old in 1995, remains the only sophomore and the only supplement to take this division. The starting fee is included in the supplemental amounts, and at least 50% of the supplemental money, minus the normal starting fee, is added to the purse of the individual events.

Horses already paid in to the Breeders Crown events must enter by 9:00 am, EST, July 18, at the Meadowlands race office. Eliminations, if needed, will be raced on Saturday, July 22. Twelve entrants are needed to force any elimination(s) in any of the four events. The US $1.8 million divisional championships for open trotters and pacers will be raced on a twilight card at 5:00 pm that also features the Hambletonian and Oaks eliminations.

Breeders Crown Fields Now Set
A compact group of North America’s richest and fastest pacers and trotters will contest the $1.9 million Breeders Crown Open events scheduled for Saturday, July 29, at The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J. William Haughton winner Leading X Ample, Titan Cup winner Sand Vic, and Dan Patch honorees Boulder Creek, Peaceful Way and Vivid Photo will headline the four divisions of Breeders Crown events for three-year-old-and-older trotters and pacers.

The $500,000 Breeders Crown Pace drew 13 entries, enough to split into two $45,000 eliminations that will be raced on Saturday, July 22, to determine 10 starters for the final. Elimination winners, in an order determined by lot, may choose their post position for the final. The first elimination of eight, from the rail out, consists of: 1-Dr. No, 2-Holborn Hanover, 3-Mypanmar, 4-He Wants It All, 5-Casimir Camotion, 6-Stonebridge Regal, 7-Maltese Artist. In the second elimination, six go postward. From the rail out: 1-Leading X Ample, 2-Hop Sing, 3-P-Forty-Seven, 4-Ponder, 5-Boulder Creek, 6-Lis Mara No other eliminations were needed.

Just nine older trotters entered the $800,000 Breeders Crown Trot. Sand Vic, the top-ranked trotter on the national harness racing poll, leads the group with four wins and two seconds in six starts. Last year’s Hambletonian winner Vivid Photo and defending Breeders Crown champ Strong Yankee, a pair that has compiled more than $3 million in purse money, will look to wrest control of the division with a Crown title.

The complete field for the richest event for older trotters in North America in alphabetical order is: Corleone Kosmos, Elegant Man, Lawman, Muscles Marinara, Sand Vic, Sir Perseverance, Smooth Muscles, Strong Yankee and Vivid Photo. Post positions will be drawn at a press conference at Gallagher’s in Manhattan on Tuesday, July 25.

The ease with which defending Crown champ Peaceful Way drew away from her peers in the Perretti Matchmaker stakes on July 14 at the Meadowlands may be why just six other trotting mares entered the $250,000 Mare Trot. In alphabetical order the mares entered are: Ecstatic, Godess Of Chaos, Lady Lifter, Mystical Sunshine, Peaceful Way, Three Little Words and Ticket To Glide.

On the pacing distaff side, 10 mares entered the $331,500 Breeders Crown Mare Pace, which will also go directly to the final. The 10 entered include supplement Easton Alliance N, former Crown winners Burning Point and Restive Hanover, and Glowing Report, a winner of $1.5 million to date. In alphabetical order the mares entered are: Born Storyteller, Burning Point, Chotat Milk, Easton Alliance N (S), Glowing Report, KG Katriona, L Dee’s Val, Marnie Hall, Restive Hanover and Stonebridge Kisses.

The $1.9 Breeders Crown events will be raced on a special card with a 5:00 pm, EST post-time, to launch the 2006 Hambletonian Festival, annually the greatest week in harness racing. The special twilight card will feature eliminations for the Hambletonian and Hambletonian Oaks

Easton Alliance N Supplements to Breeders Crown
Katherine Bardis’ Easton Alliance N was the only supplement to any of the four Breeders Crown events to be raced Saturday, July 29, at the Meadowlands. The supplemental fee of $37,500 for the daughter of 1997 Crown champ Village Jasper makes her eligible to the $331,500 Breeders Crown Mare Pace. Though her last pari-mutuel start came in the Matriarch on May 14, she has since qualified, winning in 1:52.4 for driver John Campbell.

One of four races worth a combined US$1.8 million slated for the twilight card on Saturday, July 29 at the Meadowlands, the Mare Pace has been a showcase for such extraordinary distaff champions as Eternal Camnation and Bunny Lake, the two richest mares of all time. Easton Alliance N, a five-year-old, was born and raised in New Zealand and began her North American racing career in 2005, winning all three of her starts at Cal Expo in California. She was sent east in March and won her first start at the Meadowlands, upsetting the favored Loyal Opposition in the $118,560 Overbid final.