Duke Sugg hopes Yanks Dugout will continue to improve with age, and if the five-year-old trotter’s current form is any indication, he is trending in that direction.

Yanks Dugout is the 3-1 morning-line second choice in Saturday’s (March 12) $37,500 Preferred Trot at The Meadowlands. The gelding, owned by Sugg and his father Ivan, has won four of his past five starts, including a 1:53.2 triumph by a nose over JL Cruze in a conditioned trot last week at the Big M.

Ron Burke has trained Yanks Dugout, who will have Yannick Gingras in the sulky, since getting the horse from Duke Sugg in October. Ivan Sugg, a member of the Ohio Harness Racing Hall of Fame and the sport’s 2003 Trainer of the Year, bred the trotter with Wayne Farthing.

For his career, Yanks Dugout has won 19 of 49 races and $235,978. The son of Triumphant Caviar-Yansky is a half-brother to 2021 Kentucky Filly Futurity winner Katie’s Lucky Day.

“I know, of course, there are better trotters that are faster, but he’s just really consistent,” Duke Sugg said. “He’s the type of horse you can race all the time and make money with him. He’s never really needed a lot of time off. He seems to be able to take care of himself and race.

“As horses get older, they get better. The biggest thing he’s going to have to do is drop his speed a little bit. He’s always been a :28-quarter horse. If he goes :27.4 like he did last week, to me, that’s pretty good. We just have to wait and see if he gets a little faster as he gets older, which is possible.”

Last April, Yanks Dugout set a track record at five-eighths-mile Miami Valley Raceway when he won in 1:53.4. In December, he was victorious in a career-best 1:53 around the mile oval at The Meadowlands.

“He’s always been a sound horse,” Sugg said. “That’s been his best quality. He’s a sound horse and he’s very consistent with his speed.”

Yanks Dugout raced only three times at age two in 2019 because of issues related to the neurological disease equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM). In addition, Sugg was injured in an accident that summer while driving at a fair, putting his work with the horses on hold for months.

“When I was in hospital doing my rehab, my dad told me I had to get better and get Yanks Dugout right so we could get him back going again,” Sugg said. “When I got out, my kids (daughter Brooke and son Brett) trained him back and did all the work. My brother (Kurt) raced him as a three-year-old, and he did well. Since then, he’s been a very nice horse.”

Yanks Dugout won eight of 14 races at three, including two legs of the Ohio Sire Stakes series. He finished third in the Ohio State Fair Stakes and Ohio Breeders Championship. Last season, Yanks Dugout won seven of 26 starts for Duke Sugg, who has worked for the CSX Railroad for 11 years in addition to training.

“I’m really happy for my dad,” Sugg said. “My dad has done this his whole life. He is very talented and very smart; I’ve always looked up to him. He’s going to turn 80 this year and it’s nice for him to have a good horse that he can watch and look forward to. It’s very good.”

The 2-1 morning-line favourite in Saturday’s Preferred Trot is Lovedbythemasses, who is 2-for-2 this year for trainer Jeff Cullipher. The field also includes JL Cruze and Angel Nation, who enters off a conditioned trot triumph last week.

“I’m hoping (Yanks Dugout) can do some good Saturday,” Sugg said. “It’s a tough race. We’ll see.”

First-race post time is 6:20 p.m. EST at The Meadowlands, with a free online program, courtesy of TrackMaster, available.

(USTA)