Owner Tristan Sjoberg has said that White Bliss’ scheduled race this Friday (November 21) at the Meadowlands Racetrack will be the final start of the 2014 season for the freshman pacing colt.
“We are delighted that White Bliss can make his final start of the season at the Meadowlands,” Sjoberg has told the Meadowlands Racetrack’s publicity department. “Due to a bout of colic and then illness he has made his debut very late in the season, but he has improved with each qualifier.”
The once-in-a-generation horse is scheduled to face the starting gate at Meadowlands Friday night in Race 1, which carries a post time of 7:15 p.m. He has drawn Post 2 in the 10-horse conditioned event and has been named the 5-1 fourth choice on the morning line.
The Breeders Crown finals will also kick off Friday at the Meadowlands, as the $500,000 Two-Year-Old Filly Trot, $500,000 Three-Year-Old Filly Trot, $593,750 Three-Year-Old Filly Pace and $250,000 Mares Open Trot are all set to go. To view the fields for the Breeders Crown finals, click here.
White Standardbreds make up less than one per cent of the entire breed. In fact, the odds of White Bliss being born completely white was a 1 in 200,000 longshot since his parents were both bay or brown in colour. White Bliss is the first white Standardbred born to bay-colored parents in North America since 1998.
White Bliss was purchased at the 2013 Standardbred Horse Sale in Harrisburg, PA for $240,000 by Sjoberg, who bought the horse as a Christmas present for his mother.
Trained by fellow Swede Ake Svanstedt, White Bliss finished third in his first career race on November 11 at Pocono Downs.
“He was boxed in for most of his debut race, but showed an impressive turn of speed in the lightning lane on the home stretch,” Sjoberg explained. “We are hoping that he can develop further over the winter months and we have set our sights on most of the major stakes races in 2015. After Friday he heads down to Florida to work on his tan for a few months before training for the three-year-old season starts in earnest. In the stable at Legend Farm, he is placed right next to Sebastian K so I hope ‘Seabass’ has given Bliss some tips how to run fast.”
(With files from the Meadowlands)