Manolete is still in the early stages of his career, but trainer Bruce Saunders has already found a lot to like about the freshman male pacer as he prepares to send the colt to his $150,000 USD New Jersey Classic final on Friday, Sept. 6 at The Meadowlands.

In five starts so far, Manolete has been worse than second only once. He won two preliminary rounds of the New Jersey Sire Stakes series and finished second in the final on Aug. 22 at the Big M, where he lost by a head after being part of an early battle for the lead that resulted in a :53.4 opening half-mile.

Manolete also had a second-place finish in the second leg of the Kindergarten Classic Series at The Meadowlands in early July, when he missed by a neck.

On Friday, he will leave from post two with Todd McCarthy in the sulky. He is the 3-1 second choice on the morning line.

“He may be the smartest two-year-old I’ve ever been around,” Saunders said about Manolete, who is owned by M And L of Delaware and M & M Harness Racing. “I think he’s a very flexible and unique horse for a two-year-old. You can stop and start him. You can use him early, you can use him in the middle, you can use him late. You can race him on the front end, you can race him from behind. I think Todd has a lot of options.

“He’s a very good horse, there’s no question about that.”

Manolete, a son of Cattlewash-Glancewithme, was purchased for $52,000 at the Standardbred Horse Sale. His family includes Fresh Breeze, the mother of the sport’s current No. 1-ranked horse, Twin B Joe Fresh, as well as Grand Circuit stakes winners American Ideal and Make A Success. His fourth dam is U.S. Hall of Famer Three Diamonds, the mother of U.S. Hall of Famer Life Sign.

After beginning his career with a sixth-place finish in the first leg of the Kindergarten, Manolete has either won or been knocking on the door.

“We’re very happy to have a horse of this quality, and a horse that shows up and does his job every week,” said Saunders. “We can’t ask for more than that.”

Manolete has raced only once since July 26. The NJSS championship, originally slated for Aug. 2, was postponed to Aug. 22 because of severe weather and a power outage, and the New Jersey Classic did not require eliminations last week.

“I would have preferred to race last week in eliminations, but he’s a very good horse and knows how to take care of himself,” said Saunders. “I don’t think it really matters how we train him, he comes to work prepared to do his job. I’ve got complete confidence in him.”

Captain Optimistic is the 9-5 morning-line favourite in the New Jersey Classic for two-year-old male pacers. The son of Captaintreacherous-Cinamony has three wins and a second in four races this season for trainer Nancy Takter and driver Yannick Gingras. He will leave from post five.

The field also includes Papis Pistol (Papi Rob Hanover-Bang Bang), who upset Captain Optimistic by three-quarters of a length in a conditioned race last week, as well as New Jersey Sire Stakes champ McCusker (Cattlewash-Robocall Hanover) and NJSS third-place finisher Tom Horn (Cattlewash-Dancinwiththestarz).

“As we’ve watched many times in a horse race, anything can happen, but I’m very confident in my horse,” said Saunders. “I think they’re all pretty much good horses, but I wouldn’t trade Manolete for any two-year-old on any night that I’ve seen yet. It’s going to be an exciting race. I just hope for the same amount of racing luck that everybody else has. No more, no less.”

The New Jersey Classic for freshman male pacers is one of eight finals for two and three-year-old pacers and trotters on Friday at The Meadowlands. The finals for pacers go for $150,000 USD and the finals for trotters go for $250,000 USD.

My Sweet Lily (Sweet Lou-Mimis Lily) is the 5-2 favourite in the final for two-year-old female pacers while Rocket Deo (Captaintreacherous-Rocklamation) gets the 4-5 nod among three-year-old female pacers and Wish You Well (Bettors Wish-Wheres Alice) is the 8-5 choice among three-year-old male pacers.

Hambletonian Oaks winner Warrawee Michelle (Walner-Sound Check) is the 6-5 favourite in the Classic for three-year-old female trotters while Earl Beal Memorial champ Sig Sauer (Muscle Hill-Sigilwig) is the 4-5 fave among the sophomore boys. Lady Landia (Tactical Landing-Seventimesalady) is the 2-1 favourite for two-year-old female trotters and Hidalgo (Muscle Hill-Brooklyn) is the 2-1 choice among the freshman male trotters.

Click here for free program pages for the Friday card at The Meadowlands.

The curtain on The Meadowlands' two-week “Mini Meet” will come down at the conclusion of this week’s pair of 14-race programs, which will be contested Friday and Saturday with a first-race post time of 6:20 p.m. After this weekend, Standardbred racing will take a five-week break before resuming in October. Harness racing’s year-end, $7 million USD, 12-race extravaganza, the Breeders Crown, returns to The Big M with eliminations on Oct. 18 and 19 and finals on Oct. 25 and 26.

(With files from USTA & Meadowlands Racetrack)