Meadowlands Pace Top Ten

Well, we are getting closer and closer to the $1M Meadowlands Pace. Greg R chips in with his top ten for us, just as he had done with the North America Cup. A couple of notes. First, this was sent before Bullville Powerful declared that he is supplemented, and second, there was a Beach update today at Standardbred Canada. As well, on Andrew Cohen's First Over blog, a trainer stabled near Brent McGrath shared some thoughts. Included is this (click to read the whole item): "This morning the Beach was shipped into Mohawk for a training mile. It was slated for 9:00 AM and Paul was in the bike. The final time was a mile in 1:55, off of a half in 1:02, Paul was a passanger as they whizzed past the 3/4 pole in about 1:30 and paced stong through to the wire. Afterward Brent was beaming and obviously pleased."

Here is the Top Ten. Looks like a good M Pace is shaping up this year.

The eliminations for the Meadowlands’ signature event, the $1 million Meadowlands Pace are coming up this Saturday night, so I thought we’d give a list of the top ten contenders and what they have been doing since the North America Cup, which was contested on June 14 at Mohawk.

1. Somebeachsomewhere-The world champion colt rolled to an effortless looking 1:49 score in the Cup with a brush to the top in the first turn and a crush job from there. He hasn’t raced since, but reports I’ve heard out of Mohawk are that the horse has trained like a monster, and he proved that layoffs are no problem with his Burlington win. I can’t see anyone going with him unless he is way off his game.

2. Badlands Nitro-After a second place effort in the Cup, Badlands Nitro won his elimination and the final of the Art Rooney at Yonkers . He wasn’t overly flashy in Rooney, but he did show a lot of heart by digging in when he needed to get the victory. Top flight trainer/driver combo in George Teague, who won the Rooney and the Pace last year with Southwind Lynx, and Brian Sears, who won the Pace in 2005 with Rocknroll Hanover .

3. Santanna Blue Chip-How can you not like this horse? Shows up every time and gets a paycheque, and that’s why he’s close to $1.3 million in earnings. Was a good second off a pocket trip in the Rooney after a win in the elimination and a third in the Cup. He’s also experienced over the Meadowlands strip thanks to his victory in last year’s Breeders Crown there.

4. Upfront Hannahsboy-Broke the Na Cup Consolation record with a dominant score in 1:49.2, then romped in the Cleveland Classic at Northfield before breaking the track record at Pocono with a another 1:49.2 win over the five-eighths mile track. Tim Tetrick won the Pace last year, and I read owner Ed Mullinax said this is the fastest horse he’s ever owned, which is high praise considering he owned the likes of Dragon Again and Whosurboy.

5. Art Official-Maybe had the most late stretch pace in the Cup, but could only muster a seventh closing into the hot last quarter. Bounced back with a big 1:50.1 win at Balmoral in the Hanover and then was a gutsy first-over winner in the Hoosier Cup in 1:51 and change. Unfortunately, new driver Ryan Anderson was involved in an accident at Hawthorne on Sunday night and may not be available.

6. Bullville Powerful-This is a conditional ranking as he isn’t eligible, but I have heard owner Steve Crevani is going to pony up the hefty supplement fee to enter him. He’s certainly earned it as the son of Bettors Delight has banked over $265,000 this year with wins in the Empire Breeders at Tioga and in a three-year old open at The Meadowlands on Saturday night in a sparkling 1:49 over what was an off track.

7. Dali-Connections got their wish in the NA Cup final when he raced off a helmet, but didn’t have much kick and finished eighth. Shipped to Indiana for the Hoosier Cup and was second to Art Official after brushing to the top at the half. Driver Luc Ouellette, who won the Pace in 1998, was disappointed he didn’t win, but was encouraged by the effort, and is hoping it was a sign that the horse is finally healthy. Horse went two-for-two at The Meadowlands last year in the Niatross and Woodrow Wilson, and won both of those events in impressive fashion.

8. Sand Shooter- After being rough-gaited in his elimination, he raced markedly better in the North America Cup final, rallying to just miss a cheque by finishing sixth. Off that race, he shipped to Pocono and won in 1:50.2 with a final quarter in 27 seconds flat. He was good at The Meadowlands last year with a win in his Breeders Crown elimination and a nose loss to Santanna Blue Chip in the final.

9. Moon Beam-Might be the comeback story of the year if he keeps trending the way he’s going. The connections finally figured out the horse was having heart difficulties and corrected them, and he’s been like a new horse since then. He didn’t compete in the NA Cup but was third in the elimination and final of the Rooney with the latter being a tough first-over effort where he displayed a lot of tenacity and grit.

10. Scape Ghost-A horse for the course if there ever was one; he has five wins this year in eight starts at The Meadowlands, including the recent New Jersey Sire Stakes final, which he won in 1:50.2 with a final kicker in 26.2. Rallied off cover to finish second in the Jersey Cup on June 28, which looked like a prep for this race.

That’s a look at my top ten, but it’s certainly not a guarantee that these ten will all make the final. One only has to go back to 2004 where horses like Geartogear, who was coming off a fourth at Hiawatha Horse Park and Circle L Kid, who hadn’t done much before or after that race, both won elimination events for the Pace in upset fashion.

Rooney, Big Speed, Harness RIP & Hong Kong Rebates

Some good action last night in racing.

Badlands Nitro won the Rooney in a rather slow 152.4. Could have been the track I guess. Santanna Blue Chip, who just keeps showing up every week and racing well, nabs second with Jody J. That horse looks so sound he could do that all year. In the filly Lismore pace, Thong, a Jerry Silva buy, gets him back some dough with a win. She grinded in a pedestrian half and sprinted home.

The Meadowlands is the fastest track in harness history. Forget the Red Mile, or Springfield. Sub-150's are the order of the day there this year. Mr. Big won in 148.1 and Sam McKee after the victory said the time as if it was a regular occurrence. Frankly this year it is. Mr. Big looks like a solid favourite next week in the Haughton Final. If the Beach catches a track like this and is sharp, he can go 147. No doubt in my mind.

I watched a couple of Georgian Downs races last night. Track manager Chris Roberts is doing double duty as a commentator, as well. He and the track announcer chat between races and have themselves a nice little simulcast show going. Good idea.

Out west in Alberta (for you American's that is one of our most beautiful and rich provinces) harness racing looks soon to be off the map. At the Standardbred wagering conference in the spring many people spoke of the simple fact that if thoroughbred racing attracts more interest, and more handles, that harness would be a casualty. It has happened elsewhere, and last year several tracks were speaking that harness should be charged more cash to simulcast. This is all the more reason for us to do something different. Have a bunch of takeout sales, or a new platform, or get together and aggressively create a central organization and sink cash into betting software, or free data, or schedule our racing correctly, or whatever. Anything at all. I think this is the shape of things to come. We have to have an answer.

Hong Kong gets it. They asked for their industry to be taxed on gross profits, not in any wagering pool. Why is that? Because when shackles are taken off the wagering pool they can offer lower takeouts via rebates to customers and raise handles (they offer 10% rebates on losses). As we wrote in our "give the tax back" post, we spoke about the same thing - we got a 7% tax back in 1996, but kept it for ourselves, and did not give it to the customer. Nader at the HKJC knows what he is doing. Handle was up 5.75% by being responsive to the forgotten people that most matter - their customers.

".....Highs of a 5.75 per cent growth in racing turnover to HK$67.7 billion in the season just completed.......The decision by the government to agree to our proposals [to change the way racing is taxed, from turnover to profit-based] has enabled us to introduce the betting rebates, which have offset the activity of illegal operators," Nader said.

Last but not least, you have to admire Kelly and the folks at Grand River Raceway. With racing having two customers - price sensitive gamblers, and people looking for entertainment - we need two kinds of marketing. Grand River does great with the entertainment portion. They promoted a powder puff night asking people to bring their girlfriends for a night out a Grand River. Psychics and fun stuff like that (i.e. things that me as a stone cold handicapper don't like :)) for a new demographic. It's worth trying, and try they do.

Ellis Note; Dewey and Doremefasolatido

Grassroots horsemen have been heard, and it appears there is an impasse at Ellis Park.

Thursday beneath the main grandstand, Ellis-based horsemen launched a bid to protect their livelihoods and preserve their lifestyles.

"This is what we do, what we live for," said Henderson trainer Benjie LaRue. "This looks like a pretty good deal to me. We're here to race."

The horsemen secured an agreement from Geary to reopen the track, probably on Wednesday, provided the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (KHBPA) signs off on an improved Advance Deposit Wagering provision.

Marty Maline, executive director of the KHBPA, agreed to poll his 10-member board, with a majority ruling. A decision was not expected until today.

Bravo. Maybe, just maybe the players will win, and when the players win, the sport wins.

Anyone see Deweycheatmnhowe at the Meadowlands tonight in the Dancer elim? Wow. It is a shame Snow White has not come back well, because watching these two knock heads would have been a blessing. 27.2 on the end makes one think the Hambo might be a foregone conclusion. Kudos to Ray as well. On the chat boards where some folks seem to believe the human element is the horse, have been begging Ray to use a catch driver. This goes to show, when you have the horse, it does not matter who is driving. Ray has done a great job. Knowing that when he finally gets beat we will hear "he should have used a real driver" is racing to a tee I guess. I hope Ray and the colt goes undefeated so the Monday morning quarterbacks have nothing to blame.

Tom Durkin is a master. What an interesting way to call a tough horse today at Belmont.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend. There is a lot happening in racing. I would like to get caught up and pop up a few posts for some discussion.