A pair of young guns will campaign for a Presidential inauguration Saturday night at the Meadowlands

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The team of 26-year-old trainer Dean Eckley and 24-year-old driver Tyler Buter will send out Jeremys Successor in the $117,000 Presidential Final, the first major stakes race of the year for free-for-all pacers. After nearly stopping Blatantly Good in the first round of the series, Jeremys Successor completed his mission last week with a length victory in 1:50.2. The six-year-old gelding will start from seven in Saturday’s final and is rated as the 7-2 second choice on the morning line behind Western Shore.

Jeremys Successor had missed almost a year of racing when he was purchased by owner Andrea Ann Hill last March and placed into Eckley’s barn. The pacer had a prolific season, finishing first or second in 19 of 31 starts and earning just shy of $250,000. He took his career mark of 1:48.4 in an invitational on August 1, 2009 at the Meadowlands.

“Once I trained him down, I knew he was a quality individual,” Eckley said. “He beat Shadow Play and Shark Gesture for me at Meadowlands last summer in 1:48.4. He also beat Foiled Again one night in 1:50, so I knew he could go with the big boys. I wish he had been staked a little harder knowing what I know now.

“He only had one start as a two-year-old, 10 starts as a three-year-old and 13 at four, so he’s a fresh six-year-old and we’re looking at a busier stakes schedule for him this year. After the Presidential, I think we’ll give him 30 days off to relax because it’s a long year. We’ll put him in the Levy [Series at Yonkers], and as long as he stays consistent we’ll put him in the big ones here.

“It doesn’t matter how you race him. You can come from the pace or whatever you want to do. He’s another one that a two-year-old kid could jog. When he’s training, he starts off the first half mile pretty relaxed, then gets pretty grabby. Tyler Buter said he’s the perfect horse to drive. He doesn’t wear any head poles or boots. He always gives you a good effort.”

Eckley, who grew up in Loda, IL, is enjoying a taste of the racing spotlight with Jeremy’s Successor. The young trainer was introduced to harness racing by his late grandfather, Ernest Canavan, who bred and raced Standardbreds. An avid sports fan, Eckley always knew he would channel his competitive spirit into a career.

“I played football and baseball when I went to Illinois College,” Eckley said. “I was a pitcher in on the baseball team, and had a pretty good career going until a knee injury in football shot it down. They put six bolts in my knee, and unfortunately I wasn’t nearly as good as I was before.

“I owned a couple of horses here and there during that time,” he continued. “I really don’t know what flipped the switch and made me train horses, but I missed sports and I had to do something competitive. I had been tinkering with a couple of horses back home, and then I went to work for Nat Varty for a couple of years. We raced quite a few nice horses at the Meadowlands, and I learned quite a bit from him. I got my trainers license towards the latter part of working for Nat.”

Eckley struck out on his own three years ago and has built up a stable with the help of Andrea Ann Hill of San Diego, CA. He is now stabled at Mount Hope Training Center near Middletown, NY.

“I had been back in Illinois for about a year when I got a call from Andrea Ann Hill about taking some cheaper horses,” he said. “Then, she actually came out, we met and things progressed from there. She’s into hunters and jumpers out in California. Right now, she’s got about seven or eight Standarbreds.”

One of those horses is Jovial Jester N, who carries a three-race winning streak into Saturday’s fourth race.

“Andrea supposedly got a good deal buying Jovial Jester N,” Eckley said. “His full brother Jovial Joker N was with Gretchen Smith, who was training for her and was getting out of the business. They look identical, they act the same, but they do not like each other. If they get near each other, they’ll pin their ears and charge each other. Many of the New Zealand horses are hot, but Jovial Jester N is one the laziest in the world. You can’t get him to jog. Once he gets going, however, a kid could jog him. Fortunately, he wants to pass and beat horses in a race. He knows how to take care of himself and get down to business. Jovial Joker N is more like a New Zealand horse, hotter on the track and grabs on.”

Eckley has formed a successful partnership on the racetrack with driver Tyler Buter. The 24-year-old Chicago reinsman scored his second Meadowlands victory last week with Jeremys Successor. The runner-up in the driver standings at Balmoral and Maywood last year, Buter made his first Meadowlands stakes appearance in 2008 when he guided eventual Meadowlands Pace winner Art Official to fourth place in the Berry’s Creek Final. Ron Pierce later picked up the drive on Art Official and they defeated Horse of the Year Somebeachsomewhere in a 1:47 World Record in the Pace.

“Tyler wins with my $4,000 claimers just the way he wins with my top horses,” Eckley said. “I’ve put him on some bad ones and he’s gotten them home. He’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, and he’s got a lot of talent. I hooked up with him through the Chicago racing circuit. I had a horse named Happy Gilmour A, and nobody was getting along with him. I put Tyler down to drive him and he paid $43.20. Since then, I use him all the time. He knows his place, he’s aware of his stock and drives them accordingly. He comes from a good family of horsemanship, and that has a lot to do with it.”

Drivers Discuss Drives In Presidential Final

In Meadowlands Racetrack’s latest video upload, George Brennan and Richie Silverman sound off on their chances in the 2010 Presidential Final with their respective drives Western Shore and Blatantly Good.

Pierce To Take Fan Questions Friday Night

Ron Pierce will answer racing fans' questions live on Meadowlands Racetrack's Friday night television broadcast. E-mail questions to [email protected].

The broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. If you can’t make it to the track you can catch the live video by clicking here.

(The Meadowlands)