"We’re just going to throw out that race. It was a bad night weather-wise. I’m not so sure he didn’t displace and get his air shut off. Anything that was first up didn’t seem to play well on that track that night."
For his first 10 starts, two-year-old male pacer Tomy Terror was a model of consistency, posting four wins and six second-place finishes. Trainer John Butenschoen would rather forget race No. 11.
Tomy Terror finished eighth in last week’s Matron Stakes, which was won by In The Arsenal over a “good” track at Dover Downs. Tomy Terror was at the front of the outer flow at the half and second on the outside to In The Arsenal at the three-quarters mark before dropping back in the stretch.
Butenschoen is looking for the gelding to bounce back Saturday when he competes in the second of two eliminations of the Breeders Crown for two-year-old male pacers at the Meadowlands. Tomy Terror drew post seven and is 9-2 on the morning line. In The Arsenal, who got post 10, is the 8-5 favourite.
“The Matron was very disappointing,” Butenschoen said. “But he came out of it great. The next day he was bucking and playing out in the field. We brought him in and jogged him a little bit and his blood work was normal. I trained him (Monday) before the (entry) box closed and decided to put him in. Hopefully he’ll go back to the form he showed us all year long.”
Tomy Terror is a son of Western Terror-Mib Hanover owned by William Wiswell, Jean Goehlen, Eugene Schick and VIP Internet Stable. His wins include divisions of the Pennsylvania All Stars, Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Simpson Stakes, the latter in a track-record 1:50.2 at Vernon Downs.
He finished second by a nose to Yankee Bounty in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship.
“Yankee Bounty was no slouch,” Butenschoen said. “Just going off the competition that we faced in Pennsylvania and what they’ve done when they stepped out of the state, I think we’ve got a good shot. As long as he comes back to where he was, I think we’ll be OK.”
Multiple-stakes-winner Lost For Words is the 5-2 favourite in the first Breeders Crown elimination.
The top five finishers from each elimination advance to the $500,000 final on Nov. 22. Elim winners will draw for posts one through five for the final.
Butenschoen also sends Suit And Tie into the second of two Breeders Crown eliminations for two-year-old male trotters Saturday at the Meadowlands. Suit And Tie, who has one win in 15 starts for owners Wiswell and M And L Of Delaware Inc., is 20-1 on the morning line.
He is coming off a fifth-place finish in the Kindergarten Classic Series championship, beaten only 2-1/2 lengths, and was third in his two previous starts.
“The Kindergarten final was what got us to put him in,” Butenschoen said. “He finished fifth, but he was just loaded with trot. Every week we raced him (recently) he just got better and better, so we decided to give him a try. The owners are game for it. They enjoy the business and the horse is ready. We’ll give it a go.”
To view the entries for Saturday's Breeders Crown elimination-packed card, click the following link: Saturday Entries - Meadowlands Racetrack.
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.