The top two Standardbreds in the current Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown Standardbred Poll — Lyons Sentinel and Venerable — were in action during a qualifying session on Friday (Oct. 15) at The Meadowlands Racetrack, and both of those performers will head into 2021 Breeders Crown in top form.
Lyons Sentinel did all the work in her outing, although most of the mile likely wouldn't classify as work. After pedestrian opening panels of :29.4 and :59, Lyons Sentinel increased to the tempo through a 1:27.1 third station and then sprinted home in :26 under no urging from driver Tim Tetrick to trip the timer all by her lonesome in 1:53.1.
Owned by Threelyonsracing of Brantford, Ont., Lyons Sentinel (Captaintreacherous - Tutu Hanover) comes into Breeders Crown weekend on a seven-race win streak. The Jim King Jr. trainee boasts a 9-1-2-2 summary from 15 seasonal starts, but is 8-0-1-1 in her last 10 appearances. Her last loss was in the middle of July.
Undefeated two-year-old trotting filly venerable was equally as impressive in her first appearance since last month's Mohawk Million. Under tight lines, David Miller eased Venerable to the front in her qualifying mile and the duo made every call a winning one. With uncontested fractions of :30.1, :58.2 and 1:27, Venerable fended off the late bid of Robertsin (George Brennan) with Miller motionless at the lines. Venerable was more than two lengths the best in 1:55.3.
Venerable (Walner - Jolene Jolene) is trained by Richard 'Nifty' Norman for owners Mel Hartman of Ontario, David McDuffee of New Hampshire, and Paul Bordogna and Steven Arnold of New York. She's banked $1,011,255 for her connections thus far and will look to add to those totals in the Breeders Crown.
Other notable performers winning qualifiers included a pair of 2020 Breeders Crown winners in search of repeats later this month. Perfect Sting (Dave Miller) got up over One Eight Hundred (Jimmy Takter) in a 1:52 mile, while Sandbetweenmytoes uncorked the fastest mile of the morning, a 1:48.4 mile in wire-to-wire fashion for driver Dexter Dunn.
The $6.6 million Breeders Crown series, which includes 12 championships, will be hosted by The Meadowlands with two-year-olds competing in their four finals on Friday, Oct. 29 and the eight three-year-old and open divisions scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 30.
Eliminations for the two-year-old divisions will be held on Friday, Oct. 22 while eliminations for three-year-olds and up will be contested on Saturday, Oct. 23.
Post time for the Friday programs will be 6:20 p.m. while the Saturday cards of championship harness racing will get underway at 12 noon.
To view the full results from Friday's qualifying session, click the following link: Friday Results - Meadowlands (Qualifiers).