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Glidemaster wins the $1.5 Million Hambletonian

Saturday, August 5 at The Meadowlands

Campbell Steers His Sixth Hambletonian Winner!
Hall of Fame driver John Campbell scored his unprecedented sixth victory in harness racing’s preeminent stakes, the $1.5 million Hambletonian with Glidemaster on Saturday afternoon at the Meadowlands. The 51-year-old Campbell, harness racing’s all-time leading money winning driver with more than $237 million in purse earnings, previously captured the three-year-old trotting classic with Mack Lobell in 1987, Armbro Goal in 1988, Harmonious in 1990, Tagliabue in 1995 and Muscles Yankee in 1998. No other driver has won more than four.

Glidemaster provided trainer Blair Burgess with his second Hambletonian trophy in only his second try. Burgess won in his Hambletonian debut in 2003 with Amigo Hall – a colt Campbell qualified for the Hambletonian but opted off. At odds of 27-1 Amigo Hall was the longest priced Hambletonian winner in 81 editions. The mile was clocked in 1:51.1, a stakes record supplanting the mark of 1:51.3 set by Self Possessed in the 1999 Hambletonian.

Glidemaster followed the outside tier, following 4-5 favorite Mr Pine Chip into the final turn, tipping three-wide for the stretch drive. He drew off to a length and a quarter victory over Chocolatier. Blue Mac Lad, the only one of the three Trond Smedshammer trainees to pick up a check, was third.

“When I saw Cat [Manzi] leave with Berto Primo, I wanted to get on Brian’s [Brian Sears with Mr Pine Chip] back and follow Mr Pine Chip because I knew he’d be up in the race,” said Campbell. “I was third over; ideally, you’d like to be second over, but he was close enough and when they bunched up around the last turn, he was full of trot and I knew he was going to pass somebody when I asked him because he was really full of himself at the head of the stretch. Blair [Burgess] and [his wife] Karin have done a tremendous job. It’s just amazing
what he went through. He had a nail in his foot. They weren’t sure if he was going to be able to race last week. We got through last week. They had him at the top of his game. That’s really difficult to do. Besides the soreness and the stress factor, to get a horse back at this level and set a track record, all the credit goes to Karin and Blair. I wasn’t so worried then; I knew the other tier was going to develop and move up. The fractions were stiff enough. When I saw the half at 54.3, I thought that that was a good enough clip that if my horse delivered what I thought he could do, that he’d be tough to beat,"

“It’s always been fun,” the native of Ailsa Craig, Ontario who has called New Jersey home for more than 25 years. “It sure beats working for a living. Obviously, I’ve gotten some better opportunities this year and we’ve been able to advantage of those. This is the ultimate; this is what we all strive for in this game, to be in this race and get to where we’re standing here today.”

“I always thought this horse had a really good chance but you never know until the race is run,” said Burgess. “The trip looked tough most of the way, but around the last turn, it was shaping up. I know a lot of bettors get nervous when they see horses intentionally race off the pace. But very often it’s the best thing; it’s your best chance to win. I thought the race played
out like I thought. I was hoping to get position. But it’s just a dream because I couldn’t see how we were going to get position. So, John took the best route and it was risky but he had to go that way. I wasn’t sure the front-runners were going to come back to us. When they hit the half; they looked pretty confident. It took a big mile; it took a track record mile to go by them. He made a quick recovery from the hoof injury. It’s a good thing that’s all it was. Soft tissue problems are not bone problems, so it was something we could fix.”

Glidemaster’s victory pushed his earnings to $916,782 lifetime with six wins and five seconds from 12 starts. One champion recognized another when heavyweight titleist George Foreman
presented the trophy for the Hambletonian.

“It would be wonderful for me [to receive this trophy as a standardbred owner], but I had a wonderful day just being part of this day,” said Foreman. “I told everybody it would be between Sears and our man Campbell. Who’s in the corner? You got those guys in your corner; somebody’s gotta win and John did it today. John’s a Hall of Famer; everybody is talking about him. His future is certain as far as being one of those guys you’re going to talk about after his racing days over. I told him before the race, Go do it, Hall of Famer!”

$1.5 Million Hambletonian The Meadowalnds Saturday, August 5, 2006
PP Horse                     Driver
8 Glidemaster              John Campbell
2 Chocolatier              DR Ackerman
2 Blue Mac Lad             G Brennan
5 Global Glide             Ron Pierce
1 Algiers Hall               John Stark Jr
4 Here Comes Herbie   T Smshmr
9 Race Fan                  Stephen Smith
7 Berto Primo             Cat Manzi
3 Captown Hall            David Miller
6 Mr Pine Chip            Brian Sears
:26.4 :54.3 1:23.3 1:51.1*
*Stakes & Track Record