A number of talented trotters and pacers logged impressive prep miles on Saturday, Nov. 16 at The Meadowlands in advance of next weekend's potential eliminations for the Fall Final Four and upcoming FanDuel Championships.
Most notable among the entrants on Saturday afternoon was the top ranked horse in North American harness racing, pacing mare Twin B Joe Fresh. The consensus choice as 2024's U.S. Horse of the Year, Twin B Joe Fresh faced off against five rivals in Saturday's fourth qualifier. Based on the ease and margin of victory, calling those horses rivals might be generous.
Driver Dexter Dunn floated Twin B Joe Fresh away from post two and landed in the pocket as Sand Sniper (David Miller) gunned through fractions of :28.3, :57.4 and 1:26.4. That's not a taxing tempo for Twin B Joe Fresh, not in the slightest. Thus, Dunn right-lined from the pocket and edged his mare to the outside just before that third station. She paced by willingly, as evidenced by her absolutely motionless pilot down the stretch, and hit the wire more than six lengths to the good in 1:53.3. King Of Aces (Andy Miller) and Sand Sniper completed the top trio.
Owned by a group that includes driver Dunn, trainer Chris Ryder, longtime Ryder assistant Peter Trebotica and Barry Spak, Twin B Joe Fresh (Roll With Joe-Fresh Breeze) has won 29 of 39 races and hit the board a total of 37 times while banking nearly $2.6 million lifetime.
Kicking off the qualifying session on Saturday was trotting colt Super Chapter, who finished fifth behind stablemate Maryland in the 2024 Breeders Crown final on Oct. 25. The five-time winner and KYSS champion prepped for a likely Valley Victory appearance with a wire-to-wire 1:55.2 tightener for driver Dunn and trainer Marcus Melander. A pair of possible Valley Victory challengers — Go Dog Go and Blank — finished second and third for the Bros. McCarthy, Todd and Andy.
Super Chapter (Chapter Seven - Lifetime Pursuit) sports a 5-2-1 summary from 10 starts with $564,014 in earnings for owners Jeffrey Snyder of New York, N.Y. and Arthur Pronti of Jersey City, N.J.
Freshman pacing colt Sugar Man hasn't been a force on the Grand Circuit this season, but the two-year-old son of Papi Rob Hanover - Sweet As Sugar could be primed to follow in his sire's footsteps as a Governor's Cup winner. A 1:51.1 winner of his Liberty Bell division at Harrah's Philadelphia in his most recent appearance on Nov. 1, Sugar Man and driver Tim Tetrick did all the work on the front end in Saturday's test, holding off 2024 Breeders Crown winning two-year-old pacing filly Miki And Minnie (Dunn) by three parts of a length in 1:52.1, pacing home in :26.4
Two-time winner Sugar Man is trained by Brett Pelling for David McDuffee of Delray Beach, Fl., Melvin Hartman of Ottawa, Ont. and Rojan Stables of Wilmington, De.
Eliminations for the Fall Final Four (if needed) will take place at The Meadowlands on Saturday, Nov. 23 with the finals featured on a card with more than $2.5 million USD in purses up for grabs on Saturday, Nov. 30.
(Standardbred Canada)