Delaware Star Grand Circuit Bound?

Heinikin Bythebay has two Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund titles to his credit so far in his career and he will look to add a third in Thursday’s (Dec. 15) $100,000 final for three-year-old male pacers at Bally’s Dover.

A homebred son of Southwind Lynx-Sally Pansen from the stable of owner/trainer Kevin Switzer, Heinikin Bythebay enters the DSBF event with 14 wins in 19 career starts. He will leave from post three on Thursday with Tim Tetrick in the sulky and is the 2-1 morning-line favourite.

Following that race, Switzer plans to let Heinikin Bythebay audition for the opportunity to compete on the Grand Circuit in 2023.

“He’s a good horse,” said Switzer. “He’s got more races left ahead of him. I kind of kept him sheltered because I want to race him as an older horse too.

“His next race will probably be in the Blue Hen, the Open Pace they have for Delaware-breds. We’ll try him there to see what he’s all about and then I’ll decide whether to nominate him for any Grand Circuit races.

“But even if he hangs around here, he’s going to make a hundred-thousand [dollars] a year just racing at Dover and Harrington. He’s not going to win every week, but they race for good money in those classes, so he’ll make money.”

Heinikin Bythebay, who has made $233,775 lifetime racing under the KDK Standardbreds ownership stable of Switzer and Denise McNitt, was not the easiest of horses in his early days, but blossomed with Tetrick, who began driving him in November 2021.

“He’s very relaxed now, but he wasn’t when he started out, he was real hard to handle,” said Switzer. “Since Timmy has been driving him, he’s gotten a lot better. He doesn’t get excited about much. Timmy has said he’s been very good on the racetrack, he can do whatever he wants with him, no problems.

“A good horse has to be able to do what you tell him, not him tell you. He has developed to be a nice horse.”

As a two-year-old, Heinikin Bythebay lost his first two races then closed out his campaign by winning seven of eight starts. His only setback during that span came in the DSBF final at Harrington Raceway in October, but the horse captured the November DSBF championship at Dover to cap the season.

This year, Heinikin Bythebay started the season with back-to-back victories to capture a late-closing series for DSBF eligibles in March then finished sixth in the Paul Revere Pace at Plainridge Park in Massachusetts. After getting a six-week respite, he returned to win divisions of both preliminary rounds and the final of the DSBF at Harrington.

He then headed to Northfield Park in Ohio for the Carl Milstein Memorial Invitational, where he finished seventh after getting stuck behind a wall of horses around the final turn and into the stretch. The race was won by Adios and Little Brown Jug champ Bythemissal.

“He got locked in, but I think if he got out, he could have been second to Bythemissal,” said Switzer. “That’s the kind of horse I think he is.”

Heinikin Bythebay got another extended vacation following August’s Milstein and returned in December for the DSBF at Dover. He enters the final off two prelim victories.

“I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” said Switzer. “I don’t need any bad luck. He drew well, [post] three is good. The horse that I think is the toughest to beat is [Bad And Boujee], who got the rail, but I think we’ll be able to handle it.”

And from there, Switzer will see what Heinikin Bythebay might be able to handle next.

“You better make sure you can go with them before you start paying the money [to stake to the Grand Circuit],” said Switzer. “I’ll be able to tell more the next two weeks. But if he handles it, he’s going to go.”

Racing begins at 4:30 p.m. (EST) Thursday at Bally’s Dover. For free TrackMaster programs courtesy of the Delaware Standardbred Owners Association, visit the Bally's Dover website.

(USTA)