Marcus Melander has won five Breeders Crown trophies in his career so far, and the 33-year-old trainer will have multiple opportunities to add to that total this weekend at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Melander will send out at least one horse in six of this year’s 12 Breeders Crown finals. He has three finalists in the events for two-year-old male trotters, two-year-old female trotters and three-year-old male trotters plus two in the Open Trot and one in each the Mare Trot and Three-Year-Old Filly Trot.
“Hopefully, we can do some good,” said Melander.
His Crown quests begin on Friday with two morning line favourites. Apex, who in his most recent start on Sept. 20 won the Grade 1 Mohawk Million at Mohawk in a Canadian-record 1:51.4, is the 7-5 favourite in the $700,000 USD final for two-year-old male trotters while Nezuko Kamado S, also on a four-race victory streak, gets the nod in the $700,000 USD final for two-year-old filly trotters.
Apex, as the winner of the Peter Haughton Memorial, advanced directly to his Breeders Crown final. He qualified on Oct. 17 in 1:54.1, winning by eight lengths, at Mohawk. For his career, the son of Walner and Mission Brief (each a Breeders Crown champ) has won six of eight starts and earned $1,131,399. He will leave from post one with driver Dexter Dunn.
“We were very happy with his qualifier,” said Melander. “He looks good, he feels good and we obviously have a lot of confidence in him. The draw was good. He had the one-hole in the Mohawk Million, too, so he should be okay out of there. Everything seems fine with him.
“He needed a race or a qualifier, so that’s why we qualified him. But I’m happy that we got the bye and we knew that we were going to draw well [drawing for posts one through six]. I’m happy with everything leading up to the race. He’s a fantastic horse. It’s exciting.”
Melander’s other starters in the race for freshman male trotters are Spencer Hanover and Nix Nacken, who are 6-1 and 8-1, respectively on the morning line.
Spencer Hanover won his Breeders Crown elimination and has two victories and a second since the addition of trotting hopples. Nix Nacken, also a Grand Circuit stakes winner, finished second in his elimination, won by Diabolic Hill.
“[Spencer Hanover] has been very good in his past few starts,” said Melander. “I always liked the horse, but he was a little immature and didn’t really understand everything. The hopples really helped him get a little bit of confidence. He’s shown really good potential here the last couple starts.”
In the Two-Year-Old Filly Trot, Nezuko Kamado S enters off a 1:53.1 win in her elimination. For the year, the daughter of Chapter Seven-Zefira Kronos IT has won six of nine races and earned $508,208. She will leave from post two with driver Scott Zeron.
“She’s been great all year,” said Melander. “She had a little bump there where she made some breaks [at Batavia Downs in the New York Sire Stakes final and Yonkers Raceway in a NYSS leg], but other than that, she’s been doing great all year. She showed in the elimination that she’s good enough to race at this Grand Circuit level as well. She’s a very good horse.”
Melander also has the race’s second choice, Ohio Sire Stakes champion Setyoursightshigh at 7-2 from post nine, and Lainey W, who is 5-1 from post one.
“The nine-hole could have been better, but we’ll have to go from there,” Melander said about Setyoursightshigh. “She’s good enough, so she can overcome it. She always gives it her all.”
In Saturday’s $600,000 USD final for three-year-old male trotters, Melander’s trio of Super Chapter (5-2), Maryland (3-1) and Meshuggah (20-1) will start from inside posts in their pursuit of 8-5 morning line favourite Emoticon Legacy. Eliminations were not necessary for the event.
Super Chapter, winner of the Grade 2 MGM Yonkers Trot and second in the Grade 1 Hambletonian, will leave from post two with Dunn in the sulky. Maryland and driver Yannick Gingras have post three and Meshuggah and driver Zeron have post one.
Maryland, a Breeders Crown and O'Brien and Dan Patch Award winner in 2024, is winless in eight races this year but has six seconds and a third. In his most recent start, on Oct. 5 in the Kentucky Futurity, he was beaten by a neck by Emoticon Legacy in 1:49.2. Maryland has been timed in 1:50.4 in five of his past six races and, according to the United States Trotting Association, is the only trotter in history to be winless after racing five times in 1:50.4 of faster in a season.
“I feel bad for Maryland,” said Melander. “He’s done great racing all year and doesn’t have the win yet. Hopefully, it can come on Saturday. I think everyone has seen how good he’s raced, so I think he’ll be fine either way going forward, but he deserves a big win.”
Melander’s other top Breeders Crown hopefuls, based on the morning line, are Periculum (5-2) in the $600,000 USD Open Trot and Date Night Hanover (4-1) in the $548,000 USD Mare Trot.
Date Night Hanover is coming off a nose win in the Allerage Mare Trot in 1:49.2 on Oct. 5 at The Red Mile. Periculum won the Allerage Open Trot in 1:49.3.
“She went barefoot the last time and we’ll probably go barefoot again on Saturday,” Melander said about Date Night Hanover. “She’s a little sharper when she can race barefoot. She definitely raced fantastic in the Allerage.”
Racing begins at 6:35 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at Mohawk.
To view Friday's harness racing entries, click the following link: Friday Entries - Woodbine Mohawk Park // Program Pages (courtesy TrackIT).
To view Saturday's harness racing entries, click the following link: Saturday Entries - Woodbine Mohawk Park // Program Pages (courtesy TrackIT).
(Woodbine; photo of Marcus Melander with Nezuko Kamado S in the winner's circle on Oct. 17)