Trainer Noel Daley knows winning his second Hambletonian with All Laid Out won’t be as easy as his first with Broad Bahn in 2011, yet his latest prospect, while diminutive in stature, is right on schedule.

The son of Yankee Glide was scheduled to start in a division of Pennsylvania Sires Stakes at Harrah’s Philadelphia on July 18 and then enter the Hambletonian eliminations on Saturday, August 3.

Owned by Daley of Bordentown, New Jersey, All Laid Out was purchased for $32,000 at the Lexington-Selected Sale.

“Honestly, I would have never bought the horse because he was about as big as a German Shepherd,” recalled the 51-year-old from Australia who is based at Magical Acres in Chesterfield, NJ. “He’s a well-bred horse, but just a tiny little fella. The brother (Fire To The Rain) was a bigger type and he sold for $140,000.

“A friend of mine from Finland, Martti Ala-seppala, picked him out,” explained Daley. “He’s is a really good judge of yearlings. He was a co-breeder of Impressive Kemp (1:54.3, $501,074), who I had in 2009 and 2010. She won the Breeders Crown at Pocono Downs for me.

“Martti loves going to the sales, watching the videos, looking at them and judging them,” he continued. “He’s handy because he can go back 20 years and remember how each of a mare’s foals stood.”

As a late-blooming two-year-old, All Laid Out first qualified on August 16, 2012, and made early breaks in four of his nine freshman starts. He won a $101,000 division of the Bluegrass at the Red Mile in 1:57.

“Sometimes he wasn’t paying attention, and he’s still not totally bomb proof,” said Daley. “He’s very lucky he’s still a colt. We were close to gelding him. He’s a little frustrating. He’s a little guy with a big opinion of himself. He could always trot, but I never thought he was a Hambletonian horse.”

All Laid Out has three wins in seven starts this season, pushing his career earnings to $185,693. The colt has come to hand winning his last two starts, a first over 1:53.1 mile in the consolation for the Earl Beal Jr. Memorial, then a career best of 1:53 in a division of the Pennsylvania All Stars, both at Pocono Downs.

“He was actually very good in his Beal elimination,” noted Daley. “He had all kinds of trot and had nowhere to go. He doesn’t mind doing a little work. The first over trips don’t appear to bother him. We obviously won’t know until the time comes, but I don’t think the [Hambletonian] heats will hurt him.

“I’m not delusional, just happy I’ve got another shot at it. We’ve made enough to pay into these stakes races and hope to get more money. That’s basically our philosophy. Over the past few weeks we’ve just thought maybe there’s some hope for the Hambletonian.”

Reverting back to heats for the 2013 Hambletonian has added a twist to ramping up for this year’s classic and led to different approaches.

“Some of them haven’t come back as good,” stated Daley. “They were quick early on and not as good now. If my colt can improve a bit on his last couple of starts he could definitely get a piece of it. Who knows with the way things are falling this year?

“Yes, you have to peak him and have everything go in your favour,” he continued. “I was talking to Chuck Sylvester the other day, and I joked with him you’ve won with worse. His horse (Spider Blue Chip) is coming around at the right time. I mean, 'Chuckie' is the man. We were talking back in May about how all of these horses were going in 1:52 and 1:53 at the time. He told me, ‘You watch, they won’t be around come Hambletonian time’.”

Wheeling N Dealin, rated No. 1 on the Road to the Hambletonian Top 10, has taken an ultra-conservative route with only one start so far in 2013, which has lead to some speculation. The 2012 Dan Patch Award winner was a perfect nine-for-nine at two before suffering his first career loss.

“With Wheeling N Dealin, they’re doing exactly what they said they were going to do from Day 1,” said Daley. “Last year, it was him and Royalty For Life, who’s very fast, but needs to keep his mind on his manners. This year looks like an exciting one because it looks like any one of 10 horses could win it right now.

“We’re probably being diabolically opposite to what they’re doing with Wheeling N Dealin, but we’re really just taking our races as they come. The Hambletonian will be another race in a series of races for our colt. We weren’t really pointing him for it.”

In addition to campaigning the 2005 Trotter of the Year in the U.S., Mr Muscleman (1:51.1, $3,582,323), Daley finished second to eventual Horse of the Year Muscle Hill in the 2009 Hambletonian with Explosive Matter, and then won the 2011 edition with Broad Bahn.

“Explosive Matter (1:52.3, $1,510,542) was a very nice horse for us,” he said. “It’s nice see his first crop is doing awesome, and he didn’t get the mares Muscle Hill did. Explosive Matter was a far better horse than Broad Bahn (1:53, $1,547,988). Every single thing went right with Broad Bahn. I have never been so confident in a horse prior to winning that Hambletonian. We brought him back this year. I trained him down to 2:04 at the Meadowlands and he had a filling in a hind leg. So, they brought him back to Europe.”

(Meadowlands)