‘Princess’ ready for her Crown moment

Princess Jackie (Greenshoe) will look to be queen for a day when she meets six harness racing rivals in the second of three $25,000 Breeders Crown eliminations for 2-year-old female trotters Friday afternoon at The Meadowlands. First-race post time Friday is 12:30 p.m. (EDT).

Owned and trained by Doug “D.R.” Ackerman, who won a Breeders Crown in 2005 with 2-year-old male trotter Chocolatier, the filly will have Jim Marohn Jr. in the sulky in his Breeders Crown debut. The daughter of Greenshoe-Frisky Magic has five wins and three thirds in eight starts this season, good for $180,214 in purses.

The top-three finishers from each elimination will join Champagne Problems in the $700,000 final Oct. 25 at The Meadowlands. Champagne Problems advanced directly to the final thanks to her victory in the Jim Doherty Memorial last month at Harrah’s Hoosier Park.

Elimination winners as well as Champagne Problems will draw for post positions one through six in the final. The other finalists will be placed in an open draw for the remaining post positions.

All Breeders Crown eliminations for 2-year-olds will be contested Friday afternoon.

“She’s been excellent,” Ackerman said about Princess Jackie, who was purchased for $30,000 at the Standardbred Horse Sale. “She trained down beautifully. Everything was easy for her. Very, very good. She likes to trot, she likes to race, she likes to go.”

Princess Jackie is a half-sister to Grand Circuit winner and 2018 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship runner-up Magical Beliefs. She was the final yearling sold during last year’s second session of the Standardbred Horse Sale.

“She looked nice and was athletic,” Ackerman said. “So, we just hung around and bought her.”

And that patience paid off.

“Absolutely,” Ackerman said with a laugh.

Princess Jackie won four of her first five races, including three in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes. She then was a dead-heat third in the PASS championship at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows and third in a division of the Reynolds Memorial at Tioga Downs.

The filly got back to her winning ways Oct. 2 at The Meadows, capturing a division of the Keystone Classic in 1:55.2.

“She raced really good at The Meadows,” Marohn said. “We didn’t go a whole lot, but we didn’t have to. When I called on her on the last turn, she took off just like it was her first start of the year. Doug has done a great job with managing her and keeping her on her toes.”

Ackerman was equally pleased with Princess Jackie’s performance.

“That was a good win, a good race for her,” he said. “The race before at Tioga, she kind of got all sideways there and we had to make a couple adjustments. She came through the next race really good, so that’s when we decided to give the Breeders Crown a shot.”

Princess Jackie has a best win time of 1:55, which came at Mohegan Pennsylvania’s Pocono Downs in August. That time is only two-fifths of a second off the season’s fastest by a 2-year-old female trotter on a five-eighths-mile track.

Her trip to The Meadowlands will be her first time on any oval other than five-eighths.

“She’ll be good wherever,” Ackerman said. “Good is good. Nothing stops them.”

Marohn is looking forward to his first Breeders Crown experience. He will leave from post two with Princess Jackie on Friday. The filly is 12-1 on the morning line.

“I’ve never been in the Breeders Crown and I’m looking forward to going with Princess Jackie,” said Marohn, who has won nearly 5,900 races in his career. “Her best quality is probably her attitude. She wants to be a racehorse and she’s got the ability to go with them. She’s pretty versatile.”

Grand Circuit winner R Dutchess is the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the second Breeders Crown elim for 2-year-old filly trotters. The daughter of Father Patrick-The Ice Dutchess is trained by John Butenschoen and will have Jody Jamieson in the bike.

She won her most recent start, a division of the International Stallion Stakes at Lexington’s Red Mile in a career-best 1:52.1, making her the season’s third-fastest female trotter. She also won an elimination for the Peaceful Way Stakes and finished third in the final.

The elim also includes Grand Circuit and Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship Series winner Aperfect Annie and Kentucky Commonwealth Series winner Deja Blu.

“This is the Breeders Crown,” Ackerman said as he assessed the elimination. “There ain’t nothing easy about this.”

The favorite in the first elimination for 2-year-old female trotters is Miss Belmar, who is 5-2 for trainer Noel Daley and driver Andy McCarthy. The daughter of Muscle Hill-Chapter Too is coming off a third-place finish in a division of the International Stallion Stakes (won by R Dutchess) and will leave from post five.

Stakes-winner Luna Lovegood is the 3-1 favorite in the third elim. Dexter Dunn will drive the daughter of Gimpanzee-Southwind Venus for trainer Marcus Melander. She will start from post five. She is the season’s fastest freshman filly trotter, with a mark of 1:51.4.

For free programs, visit the track’s website click here.

For complete race entries, click here: US Trotting entries.

by Ken Weingartner, for the USTA