Test Of Faith can make Breeders Crown history

CRANBURY, NEW JERSEY, October 18, 2022 – Test Of Faith’s (Art Major) attempt to make Breeders Crown history will begin Saturday (Oct. 22) when she faces six harness racing foes in the first of two $25,000 eliminations of the Mare Pace at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

No female pacer has ever won a Breeders Crown at age 3 and returned to capture the Mare Pace the following year. Test Of Faith won last year’s event for 3-year-old filly pacers at the Meadowlands on her way to being named the U.S. Horse of the Year.

This season, Test Of Faith has finished no worse than second in 15 of 16 races, winning 10. She has won four consecutive starts, including the Milton Stakes at Mohawk, and is ranked No. 3 in the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll.

Test Of Faith will leave from post seven in her Mare Pace elimination with David Miller in the sulky for trainer Brett Pelling. The top-five finishers from each elimination advance to the final on Oct. 29 at Mohawk.

The second Mare Pace elimination includes Racine Bell (So Surreal), who defeated Test Of Faith in the Perfect Sting Mares Open in July and starts Saturday from post five, and Fire Start Hanover (Somebeachsomewhere), who was a Breeders Crown winner at age 2 in 2020 and drew post two.

Also Saturday, there will be two $25,000 Breeders Crown eliminations each for 3-year-old female and male trotters and 3-year-old male pacers. The top-five finishers from each elim advance to their respective finals on Oct. 29.

Joviality S (Chapter Seven), who won last year’s Breeders Crown for 2-year-old female trotters, is among a deep group of 20 in this season’s event for 3-year-olds. The most recent female trotter to win a Breeders Crown at ages 2 and 3 was Ariana G in 2016 and 2017.

Ranked No. 2 in the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll, Joviality S starts from post nine in the second of the two elims. She has won 10 of 13 races this year, including the MGM Yonkers Trot, and finished second against the boys in the Hambletonian. The second elimination also includes supplemental entry Adare Castle, who drew post 10.

The first elimination features Elegantimage winner Raised By Lindy (Walner, post one), Hambletonian Oaks champ Fashion Schooner (Walner, post two), and Kentucky Filly Futurity winner Jiggy Jog S (Walner, post five).

A total of 17 sophomore male trotters were divided into two eliminations, with Hambletonian winner Cool Papa Bell (Chapter Seven) getting post eight in the nine-horse first split. The second elim includes Earl Beal Jr. Memorial winner Temporal Hanover (Walner, post one) and Canadian Trotting Classic winner Slay (Chapter Seven, post three).

In the eliminations for 3-year-old male pacers, North America Cup and Tattersalls Pace winner Pebble Beach (Downbytheseaside) drew post five in the first of two eight-horse fields. The first elim also includes Fourever Boy (Sweet Lou), who won a Simcoe Stakes division at Mohawk in September and starts from post two.

The second elimination includes supplemental entry Bythemissal (Downbytheseaside), whose 11 victories this season include the Little Brown Jug, Adios, and Milstein Memorial. He will start from post one in a group that also has Grand Circuit winners Mad Max Hanover (Always B Miki, post two) and I Did It Myway (Captaintreacherous, post five).

Racing begins at 7 p.m. (EDT) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Visit the Hambletonian/Breeders Crown website or the Woodbine Mohawk Park website to keep up on Breeders Crown news and information.

For complete Saturday race entries, click here.

by Ken Weingartner, for Woodbine Communications