Ken Weingartner’s Hambletonian notebook

Secret Agent Man (Chapter Seven-Feel The Magic) was something of an unknown a month ago but has made a name for himself in recent weeks as he heads to Saturday’s $1.05 million Hambletonian for 3-year-old harness racing trotters at The Meadowlands.

Trained by Julie Miller, Secret Agent Man won once in four starts last season and opened this year winless in three races, going off stride three times in those seven appearances.

The gelding hinted at his talent in a second-place finish in a conditioned race on June 14, when he was timed in 1:51.4 with a :26.4 last quarter, but it was a 1:50.3 victory at The Big M on July 6 that saw him reveal his potential. The time was the fastest of the season to that point, later eclipsed by Sig Sauer’s 1:50 mile in a division of the Stanley Dancer Memorial and equaled by Karl in his Hambletonian elimination last week.

On Saturday, Secret Agent Man will join those two in the Hambletonian final. Karl, who will leave from post one with Yannick Gingras driving for trainer Nancy Takter, is the 6-5 morning-line favorite.

Secret Agent Man, who followed his 1:50.3 score with a win in the Tompkins-Geers Stakes on July 20 and fourth-place finish in the Hambletonian elimination, will start from post seven with driver Andy Miller in the field of 10. He is 12-1 on the morning line.

“We knew he was extremely fast, it was just harnessing it and having his cooperation,” Julie Miller said. “We needed to get him to work with Andy rather than marching to the beat of his own drum. When we jog him and train him, we just try to keep him focused on his task, keep him in a routine. I want him to trust Andy to guide him rather than having an attitude. We’ve tried to make him comfortable and the most at ease as he can be.

“He’s always been a happy horse, that’s never been an issue. But sometimes I think that’s why he doesn’t stay focused. Hopefully, with him getting some confidence in these last couple races, it will all work out for us.”

Miller is starting a horse in a Hambletonian final for the seventh time in nine years. She had three consecutive top-three finishes from 2016 to 2018, including seconds by Met’s Hall and Devious Man. Sutton was third to begin the streak, beaten by only a neck.

Last week, Secret Agent Man finished fourth in his elim after making a first-over move just past the half. The race was won by T C I in 1:50.4.

“It wasn’t his trip, but I didn’t want to get stuck in and not have a chance,” Andy Miller said. “But he kept digging to make the final. We’ll see what happens.”

Julie Miller said Secret Agent Man has reason to be better in the final.

“He scoped a little bit sick last week, so we’re addressing that issue,” she said. “I like to come into this race 110 percent ready, and not 99 percent. I’m hoping for the best racing luck possible, and I’m hoping that he’s in sync with Andy. I’d like to at least get a piece of it, but we’re all in this to win.”

Secret Agent Man is owned by Andy Miller Stable, Plouffe Racing, Patrick Hoopes, and Knutsson Trotting.

Ake Svanstedt has won the Hambletonian twice and will go for a third trophy Saturday with outsider Amazing Catch (Walner-Mets Life). The trainer also will try for his first victory in the Hambletonian Oaks, sending out French Champagne and Warrawee Michelle in the $525,000 final for 3-year-old female trotters.

Warrawee Michelle, the 2023 Breeders Crown champion, finished third in her Oaks elimination, which was won by Elista Hanover in 1:51.3. Warrawee Michelle was timed in 1:52 with a :26.1 last quarter, the fastest of any Oaks finalist. It was her best race of the season after two off-the-board finishes to open her sophomore campaign.

“She was normal again,” said Svanstedt, who drives the daughter of Walner-Sound Check in addition to training. “She had been bad, but we did throat surgery after the last race, and now she was good again. She was tough to train back after the winter, but now we had a reason. She had breathing issues, that’s the reason.

“She was good (in her elimination). She came home really fast. So, we’ll see.”

Warrawee Michelle will leave from post two and is 8-1 on the morning line. Svanstedt’s other filly in the race, French Champagne, will start from post seven with driver Andy Miller and is 9-2. Miller won the 2008 Oaks with Creamy Mimi for Trond Smedshammer. Creamy Mimi is French Champagne’s grandmother.

French Champagne’s wins this year include a division of the Del Miller Memorial and the New Jersey Sire Stakes championship.

“She has raced good every time,” Svanstedt said about the daughter of Muscle Hill-French Cafe, who has hit the board in 14 of 15 lifetime starts. “She is a strong horse and good gaited. She does her race every time. I hope she can race good again (Saturday).”

Warrawee Michelle is owned by Ake Svanstedt Inc., Santandrea Inc., and Young Guns. French Champagne is owned by breeders Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld.

In the Hambletonian, Svanstedt will send out Amazing Catch, who will leave from post 10 with Dexter Dunn in the sulky and is 20-1 on the morning line. Elimination winners Karl and T C I are the top picks on the morning line, at 6-5 and 5-2, respectively.

Amazing Catch finished third in his Hambletonian elimination after a seventh-place finish in his previous start, a division of the Stanley Dancer Memorial.

“He raced good again,” Svanstedt said. “We did a little equipment change last time, and he wasn’t himself. But (in the elim) he was normal again. It is tough against the best ones, but we will try. He’s got everything, but he needs to step up if he is going to race against Karl and T C I.”

Amazing Catch is owned by Libfeld, Marvin and Lynn Katz, and Sam Goldband.

Sig Sauer (Muscle Hill-Sigilwig), this year’s fastest 3-year-old trotter, goes into the Hambletonian off a third-place effort in his elimination, when he came home in :26.2 to finish behind Karl and Bella’s Musclehill. Two weeks earlier, he won a division of the Stanley Dancer Memorial in 1:50 to establish the national season’s mark.

“He sort of switched off on the last turn (in the elimination) and he can’t afford to do that,” said trainer Noel Daley, who won the 2011 Hambletonian with Broad Bahn. “He’s got to be interested the whole way. I think he’s more than competitive. Obviously, Karl is the one to beat, and T C I. But there are enough horses in there to mix it up a little bit. I do not think (Karl) is unbeatable, but he is the one to beat, for sure.”

Sig Sauer, last year’s New Jersey Sire Stakes champion, will start Saturday from post eight with driver Andy McCarthy and is 4-1 on the morning line. He is owned by Patricia Stable, Joe Sbrocco & JAF Racing, Allister Stables, and Caviart Farms.

Daley will send out three fillies in the $525,000 Hambletonian Oaks: Buy A Round (Walner-On Your Tab), Miss I La (Walner-Southwind Venus), and Paulina Hanover (Father Patrick-Personal Style).

Buy A Round will leave from post six with McCarthy and is 6-1. Miss I La will go from post five with Joe Bongiorno and Paulina Hanover from post eight with Tim Tetrick. Both are 20-1. Paulina Hanover’s mother, Personal Style, won the 2012 Oaks at odds of 57-1.

Miss I La finished second in her Oaks elim, Paulina Hanover was third in hers, and Buy A Round was fourth in hers, advancing as the fourth-place finisher with the highest career earnings.

“Buy A Round just got too far back,” Daley said. “I’ll pull her shoes (in the final) and she’ll be five-lengths better. She’s the best of mine, the other two both raced great to get in there, especially Paulina. She put in a step there leaving and got herself parked at the rear of the field. I thought that was the end of her. For her to turn around and trot on over them, she was really good.

“Miss I La has got the gate speed to put herself in there. But I sort of went to the well with both of them; I took their shoes off. I thought I needed to do that just to get them in there. I don’t know how much improvement there is in both of them. The other filly, she will be very good without shoes.”

Buy A Round is owned by breeder Frederick Hertrich III. Miss I La is owned by Ken Jacobs and Paulina Hanover is owned by John Schmucker, Maumee River Stables, Steve Stewart, and Hickory Hollow Stables.

ian for breeder/owner Willow Oak Ranch off a fifth-place finish in his elimination, which was won by T C I. The colt is the second consecutive Hambletonian finalist for Willow Oak Ranch as both breeder and an owner, joining last year’s participant, Osceola, in America’s Trotting Classic.

“It’s terrific,” said Willow Oak Ranch’s Richard Arnold, who got his Hambletonian finalists from a trotting broodmare band of six or seven horses at the time. “This business is so competitive, there are so many good horses, so many good breeders and trainers, that any time you get a shot at anything like this you have to be really excited about it.”

Arnold first built a successful cattle farm in Tennessee, and decades later, added a Standardbred breeding operation at his Willow Oak Ranch. Mars Hill, named after a small town in western North Carolina, will start from post two in the Hambletonian final with driver Todd McCarthy. He is 20-1.

The colt is trained by Tony Alagna, who won the 2020 Hambletonian with the filly Ramona Hill.

McCarthy made his Hambletonian debut in 2022 and drove Cool Papa Bell to the biggest upset in the history of the event, winning at odds of 52-1 for trainer Jim Campbell.

Last year, Mars Hill won a division of the Bluegrass Stakes, an elimination of the William Wellwood Memorial, and two preliminary rounds of the New Jersey Sire Stakes series. He has three top two finishes in six races this year, with one win.

“After his second New Jersey Sire Stakes start last year, Todd said this was his Hambo horse, and he’s stuck with him all the way through,” Arnold said. “He’s been inconsistent, but I think in the long run he’s going to be a great racehorse. I don’t know if it’s going to show up this year or not, but he’s got a shot here.

“He’s certainly in with the bearcats. He’s got Karl to his left and two really good horses (Highland Kismet and T C I) next to him to his right. It’s going to be interesting. But we’re just happy that he’s there and we’re going to enjoy the race. That’s why they race, you never know what’s going to happen. Hopefully, he’ll come in ready to go. If he can, he’s got one out of 10 chances there. It’s all good.”

The $1.05 million Hambletonian will be race 12 with a post time of 4:45 p.m. (EDT) and air nationally on Fox Sports. The companion $525,000 Hambletonian Oaks is race 14 and will go at 6:06 p.m. and air on FS1.

For all the ways to watch on Hambletonian Day, click here.

Racing begins at noon. For free program pages, visit The Meadowlands website.

by Ken Weingartner, for the USTA