With spring having officially sprung early this March 20 morning, it’s now the time of year for some of the top horses to come out of their cold-weather hibernation and start to prepare for the 2025 racing season.
Followers of The Meadowlands know this is true, and those same followers know that qualifiers at the mile oval sometimes have more marquee performers than the pari-mutuel card that takes place later the same evening.
There will be seven qualifiers at The Big M on Saturday, March 22, and there are several big names who will be knocking off their cobwebs in preparation for the upcoming year. The qualifiers begin at 4 p.m., and can be seen live on The Meadowlands website at playmeadowlands.com or Racing Television Network at rtn.tv. To view Saturday's qualifying entries, click here.
The biggest name qualifying is Grace Hill (pictured above). The seven-year-old daughter of Always B Miki-Western Silk, who won the 2023 Dan Patch Older Pacing Mare of the Year trophy, has won 37 of 82 lifetime starts, good for a bankroll of $2,158,428. She’s in the sixth qualifier and will start from post two with Jason Bartlett listed to drive.
Grace Hill had a solid 2024 campaign, winning eight of 21 outings and banking over $264,000. In addition, she was the only female to defeat Twin B Joe Fresh during that one’s U.S. Horse of the Year campaign.
“She came out of last week’s qualifier very well,” said trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. “I entered her to race at The Meadowlands this weekend but her race didn’t fill, so we are qualifying again.
“Her target first race of the year is the Matchmaker at Yonkers on March 28. She’s definitely right on schedule. She has a long year of stakes, so we will pick our spots. [Owner] Tom Hill is really good about letting me manage her as to when to race, when to give her weeks off, etc.”
Last year, Grace Hill raced at The Meadowlands in the FanDuel Open Mares, Breeders Crown, Lady Liberty and Dorothy Haughton Memorial, so seeing her perform at the East Rutherford, New Jersey track this year several times seems highly likely.
Facing Grace Hill is Quebec owner Guy Corbeil's millionaire homebred mare Lit De Rose, who has post four for trainer/driver Pat Lachance. Last year, the 10-year-old daughter of Leader Bayama-Intense won eight of 29 outings, good for earnings of $476,414. Her big 2024 win came at Yonkers on April 22 in the $378,356 Blue Chip Matchmaker Series final.
Walkin On Sunshine, a winner of three straight $50,000 Invitationals for fillies and mares at Yonkers, will be making her first Meadowlands appearance of the year for trainer Brett Pelling from post six.
The Pelling-trained Rocket Deo (post two) tops the fourth qualifier. Among her 10 wins from 17 starts during 2024 was the Shady Daisy at The Big M. In addition, the our-year-old daughter of Captaintreacherous-Rocklamation recorded her lifetime-best clocking of 1:48.3 in the Glen Garnsey at The Red Mile.
The current best horse in training at The Big M is Mad Max Hanover, and on Saturday night, the Jake Leamon trainee will be gunning for his fifth straight win in the 10th race feature, a $25,000 USD Winners Over Pace.
The six-year-old gelded son of Always B Miki-Mayhem Seelster, who is North America’s fastest performer so far this year by virtue of a 1:48.2 clocking on Feb. 22, will depart from post nine with driver Brett Beckwith calling the shots. In his last two starts, ‘Max’ took down arch-rival For Once Inmy Life. He doesn’t face that foe this time around, but will not have an easy time of it. Write Me A Rose looked good winning from post nine a week ago in 1:51 and will try to repeat from post five.
During the month of March, live racing at The Big M will be conducted every Friday and Saturday with a first-race post time of 6:20 p.m. The live “Racing from The Meadowlands” pre-game show begins at 5:45 p.m. The Meadowlands offers free program pages for every race card on its website at playmeadowlands.com.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)