Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Campbell & Pierce Net Half of Hambo Cash

August 11, 2006

A week ago, a pair of Hall of Fame won the $1.5 million Hambletonian and the $750,000 Hambletonian Oaks and accounted for nearly half of the $3.8 million distributed last Saturday at the Meadowlands. While the Meadowlands’ meet draws to a close on Saturday night, both John Campbell and Ron Pierce will be following the Grand Circuit and heading to western Pennsylvania for the Adios and other stakes at The Meadows.

The 51-year-old Campbell, who won his sixth Hambletonian with Glidemaster as well as capturing divisions of the Oliver Wendell Holmes with Took Hanover and the US Pacing Championship with Ponder, accounted for $997,210 in purse money [three wins and three thirds from 13 starts] while Pierce, 50, connected for $819,975 in earnings [four wins, three seconds and one third from 14 drives], annexing the Oaks with Passionate Glide and the Mistletoe Shalee with Armbro Dancer.

"The win in the Hambletonian was one of the most satisfying ever for me,” said Campbell, who won his 22nd million-dollar race. “But more from the perspective of the Hambletonian and its history than winning a million-dollar race."

Campbell, who vaulted to third place in the 2006 national driver standings [by earnings] with nearly $6 million, is trailing only Pierce’s $8.4 million and Brian Sears’ $7.7 million. He attributes his success to the trainers for whom he drives.

“Trainers are so key,” he noted. “They do the work 24/7. Everything revolves around them. Blair Burgess [trainer of Hambletonian winners Amigo Hall and Glidemaster] and Chuck Sylvester [who conditioned four Hambletonian winners, Mack Lobell, Park Avenue Joe, Muscles Yankee and Chip Chip Hooray], trainers like that, they are the ones that deserve the credit. I'm just out there guiding them around the track."

Campbell, who won the Adios in 2002 and 2003, will be going to The Meadows, near Pittsburgh, in pursuit of a record ninth victory in the three-year-old pacing stakes with Feelin Friskie. Pierce, who won the Adios in 2004 and 2005, will be handling a pair of George Teague trainees, Total Truth and Western Ace.

Pierce had a good Hambletonian Day with a pair of “Glides.” He won the Oaks with Passionate Glide and was fourth in the Hambletonian with Global Glide.

"Passionate Glide was not 100 percent at all, but she still had what it took to beat those fillies,” noted Pierce, who spent the past week in Homer, Alaska, fishing with his two sons, brother and nephew. “Global Glide really surprised me. He was some kind of good. I think he only got beat about two and a half lengths. He finished with real good trot. I was only hoping to get a check with him. Had I known he'd be this sharp, I would have followed Campbell’s horse [Glidemaster] out and maybe gotten third. This colt will be heard from in the next few months."