Trainer Daryl Bier is hoping for a big night Saturday when he sends Higher And Higher into the $101,750 Overbid Series final for pacing mares and Fools Gold into the $78,400 Four Leaf Clover final for pacers age five and under at Meadowlands Racetrack
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Higher And Higher, who has won 10 of her last 14 races dating back to August, missing the board only once during that span, drew Post 5 for the Overbid. Bier, who owns the five-year-old with Glenn DelRusso and Charles Dombeck, will handle the driving.
Fools Gold, who will be driven by Tim Tetrick, will start from Post 3 in the Four Leaf Clover. Bier purchased the five-year-old horse in October and owns the horse with DelRusso and Dombeck. Fools Gold has won four of 11 races since joining Bier’s stable, including a track-record-equalling 1:50.1 score at Dover Downs in November.
Bier bought Fools Gold from Illinois’ Nelson “Spider” Willis after being alerted by Tetrick that the horse was for sale. Fools Gold, who set his career mark of 1:48.4 in October with a victory at Balmoral Park, won 12 of 19 races and earned $143,165 overall last season.
“I’m always looking,” Bier said. “I didn’t know anything about him until Timmy told me about him. I watched his races and I couldn’t believe my eyes would lie to me. He was a real nice horse. His first start for us, at Pocono, he won in 1:50 and he did it really easy. I was really happy with him.”
Fools Gold was slowed by sickness and a touch of soreness earlier this year, but has regained his form in recent weeks. He was second by a neck to Risk Management in the first round of the Four Leaf Clover and won by a neck in 1:50.2 over Risk Management in the second leg.
“I was very pleased with him; I was ecstatic,” Bier said. “He’s the type of horse that lets you get close to him, but doesn’t let you get past. I’m really excited about this week. I think he’s in a great spot.
“It makes all the difference when you’ve got the right horses in the right classes.”
Joining Fools Gold in the Four Leaf Clover final are Risk Management, AJ Corbelli, Intrigued Royally, Freddy Day Hanover, Art Z, I Wanna Go Fast, Touch The Rock, Southern Sport, and Boi.
Bier drove Fools Gold until last week, when Tetrick took the lines. Bier will turn over the driving duties on many of his horses as the season progresses because he plans to follow Higher And Higher on the stakes circuit.
“I’m going to have to leave the stable and go wherever she goes,” Bier said. “I really believe she is going to change my life.”
Higher And Higher finished fifth in the opening round of the Overbid, beaten by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:52.3, with a :28.2 final quarter-mile. Bier discovered afterward the mare was bleeding through her Lasix and believes he has corrected the issue. Last week, Higher And Higher won by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:52.1 with a :26 final quarter-mile.
“I believe she’s at the top of her game off last week’s start,” Bier said. “I thought she was kind of flat in most of her starts this year. I really thought she was missing a gear, which I know sounds crazy because she was winning, but I thought she wasn’t firing on the end of [the mile].
“She was bleeding a little bit and I missed that. It was definitely trainer error. Last week, she had so much pace.”
The Overbid field includes Ginger And Fred, Rock N Soul, Put On A Show, and Chancey Lady to Higher And Higher’s inside, and Tea Party Princess, Royal Cee Cee N, Anndrovette, and Rocklamation to her outside.
“If they ever go 1:22 [to three-quarters] I think you’ll see something pretty amazing,” Bier said. “She could always finish off whatever numbers they threw at her.”
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.