Can Venerate repeat in $145,150 Cutler Memorial?

Three horses have repeated as the winner of the Arthur J. Cutler Memorial in its 26-year history. Venerate (Love You) will look to become the fourth when he meets seven harness racing rivals in Saturday’s $145,150 edition of the Grand Circuit event for older trotters at The Meadowlands.

Venerate, a 6-year-old stallion who was a Dan Patch Award winner in 2020, got his season underway last week with a third-place finish in an $18,000 conditioned trot at the Big M. He was timed in 1:52.1 with a :27.3 last quarter over a track labeled sloppy.

“He raced OK; he needed the race,” trainer Marcus Melander said. “He finished up good and hopefully that race will move him forward a lot. I think he’ll be all right.”

Venerate won last year’s Culter Memorial in a career-best 1:50.1. The triumph gave Melander his second victory in the race. Melander, Ake Svanstedt, and Ron Burke will combine to send out six of Saturday’s eight Cutler participants; the trio has won eight of the past 10 editions of the race.

Venerate will start from post six with driver Scott Zeron and is the 7-2 morning-line second choice. Returning Dan Patch Award winner Jiggy Jog S, the lone mare in the field, is the 2-1 favorite.

Venerate will try to join Resolve (2016-17), Sand Vic (2006-07) and Magician (2000-01) as a repeat winner of the Cutler.

“We know when he’s good that he can go with them,” Melander said about Venerate taking on the top horses in the division. “I’m excited to see him.”

Last year, Venerate won the Cutler and followed that performance with second-place finishes behind It’s Academic in the Crawford Farms Open and John Cashman Memorial. He made a break in his next start, the Maple Leaf Trot, and never regained his form.

“It just felt like we got on the wrong page with him after Canada and never got him back,” Melander said.

Venerate did stallion duty during the winter, with frozen semen sent to breeders overseas. He returned to training in early February.

“He’s been training good ever since,” Melander said.

For his career, Venerate has won 12 of 41 races and earned $1.12 million. He is owned by Courant Inc., Holly Lane Stud East LTD, Kemppi Stables Oy Inc., and Venerate Partners.

Melander also will send 5-year-old stallion Periculum (Muscle Hill) into the Cutler. Periculum raced overseas last season but was a multiple Grand Circuit winner at ages 2 and 3 in North America. He earned $308,733 as a sophomore, when his mark of 1:50.3 tied for fourth fastest among 3-year-old male trotters.

Periculum, owned by Brixton Medical Inc. and Holly Lane Stud East, won a $12,500 conditioned trot at Mohegan Pennsylvania’s Pocono Downs on May 7 in his seasonal debut. He will start Saturday from post three with Mattias Melander in the sulky and is 10-1 on the morning line.

“He’s a little bit of an outsider in his first race against these horses here, but we know he has potential,” Melander said. “He had the speed as a 3-year-old. I think he’s fast enough to go against these horses. It will be interesting to see how he races against them now.”

Jiggy Jog S (Walner), who received last year’s Dan Patch Award for best older female trotter, will make her seasonal debut in the Cutler Memorial. Last year, she finished no worse than second in all 11 of her races, winning eight and earning $1.03 million. For her career, the daughter of Walner-Hot Mess Hanover has hit the board in 30 of 35 starts, winning 18 and banking $2.16 million.

A mare has won the Cutler four times in the past nine years. Those champions were Bee A Magician in 2015, Hannelore Hanover in 2018, Atlanta in 2020, and Manchego in 2021.

Jiggy Jog S is one of three Svanstedt horses in the Cutler, along with Southwind Tyrion (4-1) and Asteroid (10-1). Those two 6-year-olds also are making their seasonal debuts. Southwind Tyrion was a Breeders Crown winner in 2023.

Svanstedt, the 2023 Trainer of the Year, has won the Cutler four times since arriving in the U.S. from Sweden and launching his stable in 2014.

The Cutler Memorial will air on Fox Sports 2 as part of a 9-11 p.m. (EDT) broadcast on the network.

In addition to the Cutler, Karl, the early favorite for the 99th edition of the Hambletonian, will be in the spotlight as the team at Fox will not only air his New Jersey Sire Stakes race on the show, but also begin to chronicle the Nancy Takter trainee’s road to the $1 million Hambo, which takes place on Aug. 3.

Karl is the 1-5 morning-line favorite in his $30,000 division of the NJSS, the second of three second-round splits for 3-year-old male trotters. There also will be three $30,000 second-round divisions of NJSS action for sophomore female trotters.

Racing begins at 6:20 p.m. (EDT) at The Meadowlands. For free TrackMaster programs for the Big M, click here.

by Ken Weingartner, for the USTA