The two-year-old trotting colts and geldings opened the 2021 Breeders Crown elimination round on Friday night (Oct. 22) at Meadowlands Racetrack.

The top three finishers from each of the three $25,000 eliminations plus the fourth-place finisher with the highest money earnings will qualify for the final. The winners will draw for post positions one through five.

The first elimination was won by the George Ducharme-trained colt Testing Testing, who swept to command from third mid-mile for driver David Miller and lowered his lifetime mark to 1:53.4 winning by 1-1/4 lengths. Majestic J (Todd McCarthy) closed off cover to finish second ahead of the favourites. Temporal Hanover (Tim Tetrick), who was on the point early through a :56 half, held on for third while the first-up Letsdoit S (Brian Sears) finished fourth.

Testing Testing, fresh off a 1:54 score at The Red Mile in his last start on October 8, paid $7 to win as the 5-2 third choice.

"He was a nice horse all winter. I was really high on him," said Ducharme. "After his qualifier, he was second to King Of The North [in his career debut on June 19]. I was really happy with him, but he didn't come out of it quite 100 [per cent] so we decided to back off and take some time and get him ready for everything in the fall."

The Walner-Sound Check colt is now four-for-seven with $43,025 earned for owners W. J. Donovan, Purnel And Libby LLC, Joe Sbrocco and Jim Winske. Bred in Ontario by Warrawee Farm, he was an $80,000 yearling purchase at the 2020 Lexington Selected Sale.

With Tim Tetrick in the bike, 2-1 favourite Rebuff later rallied off cover to win the second trotting colt elimination in 1:53.4 by 2-1/4 lengths for trainer and co-owner Lucas Wallin.

Gigondas (Todd McCarthy) and Cool Papa Bell (Brian Sears) closed from the backfield for second and third ahead of Duly Resolved (Paul MacDonell), who finished fourth after looping to the lead past the opening quarter and fighting off Slay (Andy McCarthy).

Rebuff was the bettors' choice coming into the elimination off a 1:52.2 career-best victory in the International Stallion Stakes on October 8 at The Red Mile. He paid $6 to win.

"He's been very talented from the beginning, but he was very, very green," said Wallin. "We have good owners on him and they let me take the time and race him from behind and it starts to pay off.

"Tetrick put him in the perfect spot again [tonight]. He's very, very fast and he warmed up really good, maybe a little too grabby, but in the race he looked very good so I was confident."

Wallin shares ownership of the Muscle Hill-Meucci Madness colt, who has three wins from 10 starts and $144,095 in the bank, with Kjell Magne Andersen and Pieter Delis.

Lindy Farms Of Connecticut's homebred colt Branded By Lindy extended his win streak to seven with a dominant 1:53 elimination victory in rein to Yannick Gingras for trainer Domenico Cecere.

After Global Pandemic (Tim Tetrick) broke stride leaving into the first turn, Branded By Lindy gave way to Threepointbluechip (James MacDonald) then swept to command after a :27.3 quarter. He cruised through middle splits of :57.2 and 1:25.1 before opening up four lengths down the stretch. His winning margin was 2-3/4 lengths at the end as Double Deceiver (David Miller) and Fast As The Wind (Dexter Dunn) finished second and third, respectively, with Threepointbluechip all-out in fourth.

Branded By Lindy returned $3 to win as the overwhelming 1-2 favourite after stepping up from the Kentucky Commonwealth Series for back-to-back victories against Grand Circuit competition at The Red Mile meet.

"He's super nice. He's great to drive. There's not enough good things I can say," said Gingras of the improving Chapter Seven-The Lindy Label colt, who now boasts eight wins from 10 career starts and $165,850 in earnings. "He's strong and he did it easy tonight.

"I just wanted to make sure he won the elimination. To me it's really important, especially with three elimination winners -- there's not a lot of good posts left -- so I wanted to make sure I put him in play, not to get a bad trip. I thought he was the best and he showed it."

Here is a look at the field in post position order for next Friday's $600,000 Breeders Crown Two-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Trot:

$600,000 Breeders Crown Two-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Trot
Post - Horse - Driver - Trainer
1. Cool Papa Bell - Brian Sears - Jim Campbell
2. Testing Testing - David Miller - George Ducharme
3. Branded By Lindy - Yannick Gingras - Domenico Cecere
4. Rebuff - Tim Tetrick - Lucas Wallin
5. Gigondas - Todd McCarthy - Tony Alagna
6. Double Deceiver - David Miller- Carter Pinske
7. Temporal Hanover - Tim Tetrick - Marcus Melander
8. Duly Resolved - Paul MacDonell - John Bax
9. Majestic J - Todd McCarthy - Tony Alagna
10. Fast As The Wind - Dexter Dunn - Tony Alagna
AE1. Letsdoit S - Brian Sears - Marcus Melander
AE2. Threepointbluechip - James MacDonald - Jason McGinnis

In the event any horse who earned a berth into a Breeders Crown final is forced to scratch, an also-eligible entrant may take their place.

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