Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Stablemates Team up In $110,000 Galt

November 15, 2006

If the betting public sometimes finds it difficult to get an accurate handle on a group of horses—especially when horses ship to a new venue to race—they shouldn’t feel badly. Trainers and drivers, too, occasionally have trouble--even when the horses are their own.

For example, heading into this year, trainer Paul Doherty and driver Ray Schnittker thought their three-year-old trotter Frank The Hands was probably the best in their stable, followed by Matchstick Man. Last year as a freshman, Matchstick Man won five of 14 races, including a Bluegrass division, and earned $124,063. Frank The Hands won seven of 12 starts and earned $163,226. He dominated on the New York Sire Stakes circuit and was third in the Matron. He was ranked No. 15 in Stan Bergstein’s Experimental Championship Ratings for three-year-old trotters.

“We were thinking that Frank The Hands and Matchstick Man would both be tough coming into the year,” said Doherty, who trains the horses driven by Schnittker. “I expected Frank to be the main player.”

This year Frank The Hands has amassed $105,799 for the Doherty-Schnittker team, winning two starts, with a trio of seconds and a pair of thirds to his credit in 15 trips postward coming into tonight’s $110,000 Galt Stake. His best time this season came on April 13 at The Meadowlands, when trotted to a 1:58.3 win in a qualifier. He was again consistent on the New York Sires circuit, garnering his fair share of checks in those events.

The son of Credit Winner, out of the Garland Lobell mare Armbro Vivian now has $269,025 in career earnings with a 9-4-3 record from 27 starts. Frank The Hands gets his name from co-owner Frank Baldassare of New York, who owns the brown colt in partnership with Kelk’s Inc of Lockport, NY, Schnittker and Doherty.

Matchstick Man, though he hasn’t made as much money as his stablemate this season, certainly possesses more speed than Frank The Hands, although he is not nearly as consistent.

The son of Conway Hall trotted to a 1:55.2 career best effort in the $95,700 Bluegrass Stake at Lexington’s Red Mile on September 30 with Schnittker at the lines. In early August he captured a $18,774 New York Sire Stakes event at Tioga Downs, trotting in 1:56.1, and in mid-July he won a $39,535 Sires Stakes at Saratoga in 2:00.1.

From 19 starts this year he’s won three races with one third to add $88,516 to his career bankroll, which now stands at $212,579. He is owned by Schnittker, Doherty and the Hero Stables of Goshen, New York.

“Both of these trotters are pretty nice horses to be around,” Doherty said. “However, Matchstick Man can get a little fiery. He’s a lot better than he’s shown.”

Both horses were yearling bargins however, in relation to the amount of money they’ve earned ($481,604) between them. Matchstick Man was a $19,000 yearling buy, while Frank The Hands was a homebred