Will the real Beads please stand up?

A four-year-old male trotter, Beads’ inconsistent performances continue to puzzle trainer Per Engblom. Last year, Beads went off stride in six of 15 races but managed to put together a five-race win streak in the middle of his campaign. His victories included the Kentucky Sire Stakes championship, which he captured in a career best-equalling 1:51.2.

This season, the stallion won his first qualifier in 1:54.2, then went off stride in a subsequent qualifier as well as his first start. After some re-rigging, Beads won a qualifier on May 14 at The Meadowlands in 1:50.2 — the fastest trotting mile of 2021.

On Saturday (May 22), he races in the first round of the Graduate Series for four-year-old trotters at The Meadowlands. Beads is the 3-1 second choice on the morning line in the second of two $50,000 divisions.

“We’re still scratching our heads with him,” Engblom said. “He still produces a mixed bag of goodies; one time they’re sweet and sometimes they’re a little sour. But when they’re sweet, they’re really sweet.

“He trained so good all winter that I thought we had him figured out. Then he put in two performances that took me back to scratch. We changed back a little bit to his old rigging and last week he was phenomenal. We’ll try the same this week.”

Among the changes were a return to trotting hobbles.

Beads starts Saturday from post six and will be driven by David Miller, who sits behind the horse for the first time. Beads, a son of Archangel and Nepentha owned by Buckstone Land Livestock, has earned $271,713 lifetime.

“I don’t have many grey hairs, but the ones I’ve got, they’re Beads,” Engblom said with a laugh.

Sorella, the 2020 Hambletonian Oaks winner, is the 5-2 favourite in the second Graduate division. The Nancy Takter trainee is making her second start of the season after finishing second by a nose to Absattitudexpress on May 8 in the first round of the Miss Versatility Series for older female trotters.

Engblom also sends out a horse in the first division of the Graduate. Sermon, a Grand Circuit winner last season, is 15-1 for Engblom and driver Kasper Foget. Sermon made his seasonal debut on May 7 and was second by a nose in a conditioned race.

“I think he’s going to grow into this class,” Engblom said about the gelding. “Kasper gets along fantastic with the horse and he’s got faith in him. The longer the season goes, the closer he’s going to get.”

Sermon, a son of Muscle Hill and Letsjustalkaboutme owned by Consus Racing Stable and Longbridge Trotting Inc., will race without hind shoes.

“He raced with all four shoes in his first start, but he’s a horse that races better without shoes,” Engblom said. “We plan to do that at least behind on Saturday. We’ve got a great post (three) and the horse feels super coming into the race, so we’ll take it from there.”

The 5-2 favourite in the first division is Charlie Hill Memorial winner Its Academic from the Ron Burke Stable. The field also includes Hypnotic AM (3-1) and Absattitudexpress (4-1), who is 3-for-3 this year.

Racing begins at 6:20 p.m. (EDT) Saturday at The Meadowlands. The Big M and TrackMaster have teamed to regularly provide free past performances for each race card. Past performances can be found on The Meadowlands' website.

(USTA)