Trotting the name of the game on Hambo Day

Let’s face it. The Meadowland’s Saturday line-up features a compilation of the best harness racing trotting events of the year.

Ten of the 16 contests on the August 3 Big M card are for the trotting genre and will offer the public a glimpse at some of the finest diagonally gaited youngsters and aged horses in North America, if not the world. The purses for these trotting races add up to a whopping $2,667,000, with the ultimate events being the $1,050,000 Hambletonian (Race 12) and the $525,000 Hambletonian Oaks (Race 14). A total of 28 stallions will be represented in tomorrow’s trotting events at The Meadowlands.

When studying the day’s card from a breeders’ perspective, we find that five stallions set the bar as far as performers for these momentous events are concerned. At the top of the list is Walner 3, 1:50.2 ($567,652), a 10-year-old son of Chapter Seven, who to date has sired 305 performers who have earned $30,072,508 since he first entered the breeding shed in 2018.

Trained throughout his career by Linda Toscano, Walner won nine of ten career starts and retired mid-way through his 3-year-old season due to injury. He won seven of eight races as a 2-year-old, so it is no surprise that he has eight 2-year-olds on Saturday’s Hambletonian program, along with seven 3-year-olds, and five aged trotters competing, for a total of 20 that will line up behind the starting gate tomorrow.

Walner has one son in the Hambletonian, Amazing Catch, a winner of $263,018 lifetime, who will start from post ten for trainer Ake Svanstedt in tomorrow’s featured line-up. Svanstedt also sends out the Walner daughter Warrawee Michelle in the Hambletian Oaks from post two; while trainer Noel Daley will harness Miss I La from post five and Buy A Round from post six in this same event.

Walner’s oldest foals are now five, including Jiggy Jog S 3, 1:50 ($2,292,927) and Special Way 3, 1:51.2 ($1,258,475)—both found in the mix on Saturday’s card—Jiggy Jog S in the $282,000 John Cashman Memorial (Race 11) and Special Way in the $160,000 Dr. John R. Steele Memorial (Race 10). Another son, the 4-year-old Up Your Deo 3, 1:51.2s ($772,152) will start from post nine in the $60,000 Vincennes (Race 9).

The stallion with the second highest numbers of competitors tomorrow with 16 is Muscle Hill, 3, 1:50.1 ($3,273,342), a son of Muscles Yankee who won 20 of 21 starts, including the 2009 edition of the Hambletonian for trainer Greg Peck and driver Brian Sears. Muscle Hill has four 2-year-olds, six 3-year-olds, and six aged trotters who will compete on Hambo Day, including four starters in the Hambletonian: Mars Hill, Bella’s Musclehill, Sig Sauer, and Private Access. He also will be represented by French Campagne and Drawn Impression in the Hambletonian Oaks.

Now 18, Muscle Hill began his stud career in 2010 in New Jersey and is the sire of 850 performers who have earned $105,521,557, including his standouts Marion Marauder 7, 1:50.2 ($3,392,609); Manchego 4, 1:49 ($3,144,777); Resolve 4, 1:504. ($2,621,086); Ariana G 4, 1:50.2; and Southwind Frank 3, 1:52.1 (1,950,887) and Bar Hopping 3, 1:51.4 ($1,292,322), who will be included in this story a bit later.

Tactical Landing 3, 1:50.2 ($812,300), whose oldest foals are now 4, is another New Jersey-based stallion with strong representation on tomorrow’s card, as 13 of his foals will go postward, including six 2-year-olds, four 3-year-olds, and a trio of aged trotters. Trained during his career by Jimmy Takter, he was third in the 2018 Hambletonian to the mighty mare Atlanta.

Like his sire, Muscle Hill, Tactical Landing also has a Hambletonian starter, including the 6-5 favorite, Karl, a winner of 14 of 16 lifetime starts and $1,274,816, including his Hambo elim one week ago in 1:50.3. Tactical Landing will also be represented by Allegiant in the Hambo Oaks.

Chapter Seven 4, 1:50.1 ($1,954,966), a son of Windsong’s Legacy, a is another former Linda Toscano trainee, who was a solid fourth in the 2011 Hambletonian. He is the sire of eight 3-year-olds who will compete tomorrow, including Hambo starter Secret Agent Man and Oaks contestants R Melina and Date Night Hanover.

Chapter Seven entered the breeding shed in 2013 in New York, and to date has sired 591starters who have earned $68,760,262. His top progeny include the aforementioned Walner;  Atlanta 6, 1:49 ($3,533,707); Gimpanzee 4, 1:50 ($2,701,075); Jovialty S 3, 1:50.2 ($1,978,983); and countless others.

Finally, it is Father Patrick 3, 1:50.2f ($2,558,133), a son of Cantab Hall, who is the last of the five top stallions with the most performers on Hambletonian day, with six, including five 3-year-olds and one aged trotter. He is another former Takter trainee.

Since he began stud duty in 2015, first in New Jersey, and then in Pennsylvania since 2016, Father Patrick has sired 496 starters who have combined progeny earnings of $34,258,651. Some of his top foals include Amigo Volo 3, 1:50.2f ($2,320,034) and Greenshoe 3, 1:49.4 ($1,353,772), among others. He will be represented by Highland Kismet and Security Protected in tomorrow’s Hambletonian and by Paulina Hanover in the Hambletonian Oaks.

Of the 28 stallions represented, four have three foals each competing on tomorrow’s card, including Bar Hopping 3, 1:51.4 ($1,292,433) and Southwind Frank 3, 1:52.1 ($1,950,887), both sons of Muscle Hill; Greenshoe 3, 1:49.4 ($1,353,772), a son of Father Patrick; and Six Pack 3, 1:49.1 ($1,939,604), a son of Muscle Mass; and).

Four stallions have two performers each going postward on Hambletonian Day, including Cantab Hall 3, 1:54 ($1,442,303), a son of Self Possessed; Love You, a son of Coktail Jet, who was exported to France in 2005 and has more than $9.2 million in progeny earnings; Crazy Wow, 3, 1:51.s ($2,532,143), a son of Crazed; and the prolific Muscle Mass, 2, 1:53.4 ($229,000) a son of Muscles Yankee.

A total of 15 stallions are represented by one performer each tomorrow, including Andover Hall, 3, 1:51.3 ($870,510), a son of Garland Lobell, whose last foals are now 3, including Ihaveadream De Vie, who goes postward in the second $30,000 Continental Victory division (Race 4).

The stallions Arch Angel, Creatine, Swan For All, Devious Man, Triumphant Caviar, Googoo Gaagaa, My MVP, Uncle Peter and Helpisontheway all have a son or daughter stepping up behind the starting gate in one of the aged divisions on Hambo Day, while Ready Cash, Met’s Hall, Face Time Bourbon, and International Moni will all be represented by a starter in one of the 3-year-old events.  Propulsion, a son of Muscle Hill who just began his stallion career in New Jersey in 2021, is the lone sire with just one starter in a 2-year-old event, as his daughter R Charm will leave from post ten for trainer Linda Toscano in the $240,000 New Jersey Sires Stakes Final.

by Kimberly Rinker, for Harnesslink