Real Cool Sam, the 2019 Dan Patch Award winner as the United States' best two-year-old male trotter, will make his 2020 pari-mutuel debut this Saturday (July 18) in the first of two $142,250 divisions of the Stanley Dancer Memorial at the Meadowlands Racetrack.

The 'Dancer,' the penultimate stakes prep at the 'Big M' for three-year-old male trotters ahead of August’s Hambletonian, is part of a stakes-packed card headlined by the $636,650 Meadowlands Pace for three-year-old male pacers. 'Pace' elimination winner Tall Dark Stranger, who was also a Dan Patch Award recipient in 2019, is the 7-5 morning line favourite.

First-race post time Saturday be 45 minutes earlier than usual, at 6:30 p.m. (EDT).

Real Cool Sam, who was named in honour of late Meadowlands announcer Sam McKee, won nine of 10 races last year for trainer Jim Campbell and owner Jules Siegel’s Fashion Farms. The homebred son of Muscle Hill--Cooler Schooner counted the Peter Haughton Memorial and Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship among his victories and set multiple world records along the way.

The colt is among 17 Hambletonian eligibles in the two 10-horse Dancer divisions. He will start from Post 1 with driver David Miller and is 4-1 on the morning line. Amigo Volo is the 3-1 favourite, followed by Big Oil at 7-2.

Real Cool Sam enters the race off of second-place finishes in his two most recent qualifiers (June 27 and July 3) at the Meadowlands. He was timed in 1:52.4 on July 3.

“I was real happy with his last two qualifiers,” Campbell said. “A few of these other horses have gotten a couple starts ahead of him, but we’re just looking to get him prepped and ready for the 'Hambo.' So far so good.”

Real Cool Sam, who is No. 2 behind Amigo Volo in Meadowlands announcer/analyst Ken Warkentin’s 'Road to the Hambletonian' rankings, will attempt to become the first returning Dan Patch Award winner since Pinkman in 2015 to win the Hambletonian.

“There wasn’t too much that didn’t make us happy last year,” Campbell said during the winter about Real Cool Sam. “He’s good mannered in a race, good gaited, he’s got speed. He’s obviously going to have to carry his speed a lot further at three than at two. That’s the main thing, just carrying your speed further.”

Campbell will decide Real Cool Sam’s next start following the Dancer. He could race once more or go directly to the Hambletonian eliminations, which are scheduled to take place on August 1 at the Meadowlands.

“I’ll play it by ear,” Campbell said. “Our goal all along was to keep him at the Meadowlands until after the Hambletonian.”

Real Cool Sam comes charging hard to win the Peter Haughton Memorial at the Meadowlands (Lisa Photo)

Campbell also will send out Beyond Kronos in the second Dancer division. Beyond Kronos, by Muscle Hill and out of Oyster Kronos, was a three-time winner in the Pennsylvania Stallion Series last year and runner-up to E L Ideal in the final of the Kindergarten Classic. He is winless in three races this season, but trotted 1:51.4 in a fourth-place finish in a division of the W.N. Reynolds Memorial last weekend at the Meadowlands.

“I’ve been real happy with the way he’s gone,” Campbell said. “He’s gotten into tough races every start, but he trotted (1:) 51.4 last week and I was real happy with the way he did it.”

Beads is the 3-1 morning line favourite in the second Dancer division.

In addition to the Dancer and Meadowlands Pace, Saturday’s racing will include an 11-horse $253,500 single division of the Del Miller Memorial for three-year-old female trotters, the 13-horse $464,900 Hambletonian Maturity at the distance of one and one-eighth miles for four-year-old trotters, the 11-horse $391,300 William R. Haughton Memorial for older male pacers (as well as a $123,100 consolation), $172,850 Dorothy Haughton Memorial for older female pacers, the 11-horse $194,400 Mistletoe Shalee for three-year-old female pacers, and the third leg of the Miss Versatility Series for older female trotters.

(USTA)