It all comes down to the Breeders Crown… or does it?

For close to a half century, I have been honored to participate in the voting for divisional winners leading up to even higher honors of “Trotter of the Year”, “Pacer of the Year” and “Horse of the Year.”

I take this honor very seriously as the horses I choose may, someday, be in a sales catalog with the pedigree reader reading -IN BACK TYPE- the accomplishments of a sire that is tops in one of the above named categories or a filly or mare that has become the dam of a past, present or, potentially,  future champion.

Yes, my decision in the voting, along with the other members of the USHWAns voting, could prove to be worth substantial sums of money to breeders, owners and investors in our grand sport.

Again, I do not take this honor lightly and spend many hours sifting through comparative past performances and videos seeking to separate contenders which, in many, cases, can be a “ns,” “hd” or “nk” in the eyes of the voters.

When I first started voting, there was no Breeders Crown and, in the mid-70’s to late ’70’s, you know, the Green Speed, Abercrombie, Niatross era, things were pretty “cut-and-dry” with little squabbling in any division.

Oh, there was a bit of a rustle in 1984—the first year of the Breeders Crown—when the two-year-old pacer, Nihilator, and the three-year-old side-wheeler, On The Road Again, both had strong backing for “Pacer of the Year” but OTRA came out on top making every vote count.

Both, though, couldn’t dent the great year of Fancy Crown, who won the Hambletonian Oaks, the World Trotting Derby and The Kentucky Futurity that year.

Yes, the Breeders Crown has had an incredible impact on the voting for divisional honors leading up to the aforementioned honors for Trotter of the Year, Pacer off the Year and, most importantly, Horse of the Year.

But, even after the Breeders Crown has established favoritism in many categories, the upcoming events at The Meadowlands on Saturday just may decide which divisions that have a question mark at this point can have things changed to an exclamation point!

And that leads to the titled question of this Mane Attraction.

Probably 25 to 30 starters on Saturday night at The Meadowlands believe that this night, too, could be the stepping stone to a vote from the many USHWAns that participate in the process.

The $175,000 FanDuel Championship for Open Pacing Mares kicks the festivities off with a very competitive quintet ready to go featuring Twin B Joe Fresh (Roll With Joe) and Max Contract (Huntsville) vying for favoritism leaving the fastest performer in the group, Mikala (Always B Miki) third choice in the eyes of the morning line expert.

Twin B Joe Fresh is the richest in the field with $1,352,703 lifetime—$754,5411 this semester —and readied for this event with a qualifier in 1:53.4, highlighted by a :26 finale.

She, too, is the only sophomore in the field as their is no event carded exclusively for the three-year-old pacing fillies.

Will a win here be proof enough to get the vote over Strong Poison, Sylvia Hanover, Always B Naughty and Odds On Hail Mary, who have been as fast or a fifth or two faster than Twin B Joe Fresh?

She kind of shocked the harness racing world last year at two by taking a mark of 1:48.4 and lowered that by two ticks at The Red Mile highlighted by a scintillating :25.4 final panel…and that’s not even her fastest final quarter as she recorded a :24.3 finale over that same clay oval—a 1:38.2 rate for a mile!!

By the way, her 1:48.2 winning mile has left her tied for third in her speedy division as Strong Poison  (1:48) and Sylvia Hanover (1:48.1) are one-two in the speed category.

The four-year-old Max Contract (Huntsville) is on a roll four straight wins, possibly the most impressive one being at Hoosier Park in her Breeders Crown Elim when she won in 1:50.3—:26 in her first race back in a month after being scratched “sick” three weeks earlier. She, of course, went on to win her Breeders Crown event the next week!

The five-year-old Mikala (Always B Miki) has the fastest mark of all the ladies here at 1:47.4 when she came from Exit 15 of the NJ Turnpike to light up the board at 41-1 in the Dorothy Haughton Memorial.

Two million dollar winners—Racine Bell (So Surreal) and Boudoir Hanover (Captaintreacherous)—complete this very deep field.

The $350,000 Valley Victory Final for two-year-old trotting colts (yes, they are all colts) features the prohibitive favorite Karl (Tactical Landing) who is also just a “ns” away from a perfect season with eight wins in nine starts—his only defeat coming at the hoofs of T C I.

Coming into the action with that 8-1-0 scorecard in nine starts, there were rumblings around when T C I stuck his nose in front at the wire at Lexington early last month but Karl trounced his main rival in the Breeders Crown Final, using a :26.4 jaunt home to win in 1:51.4. His mark is even two-fifth faster than that after a win in the Bluegrass.

Yes, T C I has a bit more in earnings than Karl—$1,238,870—but that advantage would narrow greatly with a win here.

Only Security Protected (Father Patrick), Bright Star (Muscle Hill) and Winter Soldier (Face Time Bourbon) have faced Karl in the past, finishing 3rd, 4th and 5th, respectively, in their races against Karl.

The $350,000 FanDuel Championship for trotting FILLIES and mares has the three-year-old filly Bond (Southwind Frank) tackling a quartet of mares one year older.

Again, this shouldn’t be too bothersome as she will be FOUR IN A MONTH!

The filly will be battling stablemate Jiggy Jog S (Walner), a $2 million winner with a mark of 1:50 (last season) and M-M’s Dream (Swan For All, among others).

This is a highly interesting match-up as Bond leads all three-year-old trotting fillies in earnings with $803,321 and Jiggy Jog S is leading ALL aged trotters with $950,986.

Both come off of Breeders Crown wins with Jiggy Jog S scoring in 1:51.1 against her foes and Bond scoring against her sophomore class in 1:51.2…both by a half-length.

M-M’s Dream has the fastest mark—1:50—on Hambletonian Day in the Steele and has won 25 of 35 lifetime starts—seven this semester—and has been close-up (but not a winner) in her last four starts BUT while Bond and Jiggy Jog S have been idle for a month in active competition, M-M’s Dream kept tight with a qualifier a week ago.

The $376,000 Fan Duel Final for two-year-old pacing fillies is race number seven on the Big M program with a full field of 10 featuring My Girl EJ (Sweet Lou), Caviart Belle (Captaintreacherous) and Blue Pacific (Sweet Lou) among others.

Up until the night when “it all comes down to the Breeders Crown,” Geocentric (Sweet Lou) was all the rage mowing down her competition race-by-race while winning eight straight and $549,251 while complimenting a juvenile mark of 1:49.3.

But along came My Girl EJ, who had been very competitive against Geocentric in their meetings and giving strong hints along the way.

In the Breeders Crown Elimination, she paced a final panel in :25.3, gobbling up ground to finish second to Geocentric setting up a confrontation in the $700,000 Breeders Crown.

Rocketing off the wings, My Girl EJ took charge early, yielded as Geocentric made a quarter move to the top with My Girl EJ stalking.

With a strong brush as they turned for home, My Girl EJ stormed past and went on to a handy win while Geocentric finished seventh in the, then, most important race of the year.

My Girl EJ then complimented that win in the BC with an equally strong performance in the Three Diamonds at The Meadowlands.

Now, My Girl EJ has the edge in both important columns—speed and earnings—leaving the category for two-year-old packing fillies up for grabs by the USHWAn voters.

The $428,000 Goldsmith Maid for two-year-old trotting fillies features Soiree Hanover (Walner), who comes into this important event as the richest in her class with $603,675 in bounty.

Next on the earnings list are Ponda Title (not in here), Warrawee Michelle (not in), Willie’s Home Run (not in), Sugar Instead (not in) and Buy Around (not in).

R Melina (Chapter Seven) is in and she comes off two straight wins and is 7-for-11 this year, including her win in the Goldsmith Maid tune-up last week…and in a time two full seconds faster than Soiree—so there’s the match-up.

Both R Melina and Soiree Hanover have marks of 1:53.1 with R Melina’s mark on the slightly smaller seven-eights oval at Hoosier Park. (By the way, French Champagne (Muscle Hill) has the fastest mark of all here at 1:53 with her successes coming at The Red Mile.)

The Governor’s Cup Final worth $454,000 is for two-year-old pacing colts and geldings there seems to be a new “fashionable” kid in town—Lou Vuitton (Sweet Lou).

While Captain Albano (Captaintreacherous), Newsroom (Always B Miki), Captain’s Quarters,  (Captaintreacherous) Gem Quality (Captain Crunch) and Better Is Nice (Bettor’s Wish) have been grabbing most of the headlines, Lou Vuitton has quietly moved up the ladder very fashionably, especially  in his last two starts.

A consistent performer all season against this top competition, he gave a hint in the Breeders Crown finishing fifth after being far back early and then followed that with a pair of wins in his last two starts—both at The Meadowlands in the Kindergarten.

Maxim Hanover (Captaintreacherous) is yet another one to watch as this colt comes into the action on a two race win-skein himself.

With four wins in his last five starts, he was scratched “sick” in his Breeders Crown Elim, finished a close up third  in his Kindergarten warm-up and then won the Matron at Dover Downs and his Governor’s Cup event last week by grinding the opposition into submission.

Captain Luke (Captaintreacherous) broke his maiden last week and has shown he can pace closing panels under :26 and there’s hardly a dull edge on any entry’s sword coming into the action.

Newsroom was the sensation early on but tailed off just a bit but looked solid last week while grinding forward before, finally, upended late by Captain Luke (Captaintreacherous), who got a perfect journey for the win.

In these eyes, it’s a tossup!!

The $350,000 FanDuel Championship Open Trot features a talented field of seven with the three-year-old Tactical Approach (Tactical Landing) facing older horses here. While some have muttered that a three-year-old is taking big risks facing older horses. In these eyes, it doesn’t matter SINCE, once again, HE’LL BE FOUR IN A MONTH!

With 10 wins in 18 starts and $1,4 million in the bank, he’s won almost $500,000 more than any aged trotter—both boys and girls—and also has the fastest mark in the field at 1:50.1, a tick better than Alrajah One It (Maharajah), It’s Academic (Uncle Peter) and Southwind Tyrion (Muscle Hill).

He’s won when the chips were down—The Hambletonian, Kentucky Futurity and Breeders Crown and really as nothing to prove in his division—win, lose or draw.

The lightly raced Alrajah One IT won the Allerage at Hoosier Park seven weeks ago, threatened in the slop in the Breeders Crown but was out-trotted in the final stages. It’s his first start back in a month, too.

It’s Academic, now six, has had another big year—his fourth straight—with over $2.2 million in earnings and rarely makes a mistake. Was a sharp second in the Breeders Crown and kept tight with a nice qually coming up to this event. Also, he’s the richest aged male trotter this year at $910,751.

Southwind Tyrion has had a long string of excellent performances and used a :26.4 kick home to win the Breeders Crown Open. One thing, though…hasn’t raced in a month! But he has missed time between races on several occasions before and performed admirably…just an observation during his lightly raced career…and a great credit to his trainer and caretaker!!

By the way, the fastest aged trotter in 2023 is JUST FOR TRIX at 1:49.4…but he’s not in here.

Next is the $350,000 FanDuel Championship Open Pace featuring  yet another three-year-old going against his older foes—Confederate (Sweet Lou)

This is the most anticipated match-up of the year but, by no means, is this a two horse race!

Yes, Confederate is a scant “hd” away from being perfect this season and currently working on an 11 race winning skein and the author of that memorable 1:46.1 mile at The Red Mile.

With over $2 million in the bank lifetime, he’s far from the richest in this event featuring the winners of some $12,000,000.

Bythemissal (Downbytheseaside) and Tattoo Artist (He’s Watching) are just two of the great individuals in this race with both vying supremacy in a race bursting with talent heretofore unseen on a racetrack with every entrant having a “mark” UNDER 1:48.

The one with the fastest mark, Allywag Hanover at 1:46, is 8 to 1 on the morning line.

The richest performer in the field, Tattoo Artist, is third choice in the morning line.

The commentary could go on-and-on but that can wait until the “official” sign is posted.

Until then, “MAY THE HORSE BE WITH YOU!”

by John Berry, for Harnesslink