Regardless of where he finishes in the Breeders Crown final, trotter Flanagan Memory’s four-year-old season will wrap up Saturday at The Meadowlands.
“Overall, I’m very happy with his season. I don’t want to overrace him,” said trainer and co-owner Rene Dion. “It’s a tough bunch of older trotters for a four-year-old to compete against and he held his own. He was parked a long way in the Maple Leaf Trot (won by Intimidate) and still got a cheque (for fifth)."
Winner of last year’s O’Brien Award for three-year-old trotting colts and geldings, Flanagan Memory will be the first Breeders Crown finalist for Dion, 44.
The son of Kadabra has won only two of 17 starts this season but has ground out $141,304 to push his career earnings past $589,000 for Dion and co-owner Liette Flanagan of Repentigny, Quebec.
Brett Miller, who drove the horse to his biggest payday of the season (a third-place finish in the $484,850 Maturity final for four-year-olds at The Meadowlands in July) will be back for Saturday’s final. They finished a closing third behind Maven, beaten just two lengths in 1:52.4, in last weekend’s elimination.
“I was very happy with the race,” Dion said. “And if he gets a nice mile Saturday, I think he can get a good piece of the pie.”
The Open Trot, along with the Three-Year-Old Colt Pace and Three-Year-Old Colt Trot, will be drawn at the Breeders Crown press conference at Victory Sports Bar at The Meadowlands on Tuesday, November 18 at 2:00 p.m.
(A Trot Insider Exclusive by Paul Delean)