“I think she can get a good mile in (1:) 51 this weekend. Whether it will be enough, I’m not sure, but I’m not afraid of anybody in the race, I can tell you that.”
No matter what Maven accomplishes in Saturday’s $500,000 Breeders Crown Open Trot at the Meadowlands Racetrack, she will always be special to driver Yannick Gingras.
Gingras was with the now-five-year-old mare when she went to the track for her first qualifier, back in June 2011 at the Meadowlands. He was behind Maven for her first start, a winning effort in a division of the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes at the Meadows, less than a month later.
They teamed with previous trainer Jonas Czernyson to win Breeders Crown trophies at ages three and four, and picked up the 2013 Dan Patch Award for best older female trotter. All totalled, Gingras has raced Maven in 46 of her 52 career races, winning 26.
Now they will try to beat the boys in the Breeders Crown Open Trot. If they do, it will be the first time a mare has won the race since Moni Maker in 1998. Maven won last week’s single elimination by a neck over Your So Vain in 1:52.2, starting from Post 10 and racing on the outside for the entire mile.
Maven, purchased earlier this month for $750,000 by Herb Liverman and turned over to trainer Jimmy Takter, will start the final from Post 4 and is the 4-1 third choice on the morning line behind 3-1 favourite Commander Crowe and 7-2 Market Share. Commander Crowe and Market Share received byes to the final.
“I think she’s only going to be better,” Gingras said. “It wasn’t the best of weeks last week, Jimmy didn’t really have much time to do anything.
“But she was awesome last week. She was parked for every step and still was trotting at the wire. I think she can get a good mile in (1:) 51 this weekend. Whether it will be enough, I’m not sure, but I’m not afraid of anybody in the race, I can tell you that.”
For her career, Maven has won 29 of 52 races and earned $1.6 million. She finished second to Market Share in last year’s American-National Stakes as the only mare in the race, and earlier this season went to Sweden for the Elitlopp Invitational, where she finished third in her elimination and sixth in the final.
“It would definitely mean a lot to win this one, there’s no doubt about that,” Gingras said. “But she’s already been really special and is always going to be a very special horse to me. And the ride is not over. There’s a lot more left with her for sure.”
(Hambletonian Society / Breeders Crown)