The way the competition is shaping up, there will be no easy nights in the older trotting ranks. On April 16, Lucky Jim won the $125,000 Su Mac Lad final by a neck
over Arch Madness in 1:51.1 at the Meadowlands Racetrack. A week earlier, Enough Talk snapped Lucky Jim’s 16-race Meadowlands’ win streak by beating him by a neck. And in the opening round of the Su Mac Lad on April 2, Lucky Jim prevailed by a head over Enough Talk.
Lucky Jim was the Dan Patch Award winner as the sport’s best older male trotter in 2009; Enough Talk took the honour in 2008.
“It looks like it’s going to be a great year for the older trotters, from the public’s perspective,” said Julie Miller, who trains Lucky Jim. “There are a lot of good ones that came back and there’s always going to be new ones coming up.”
In the Su Mac Lad final, Lucky Jim battled past In Focus in the opening quarter-mile, held off a challenge from Enough Talk around the final turn, and then repelled a late surge from Arch Madness.
“That was a pretty aggressive race,” Miller said. “That’s what it takes; it’s a great group of horses this year. I feel like he raced the whole mile. He never really got a breather.”
Lucky Jim will get a breather now. He is not expected to race again until the eliminations of the Cutler Memorial on May 7. The $200,000 final is May 15.
By then, the competition could be even deeper. Corleone Kosmos has won two qualifiers in his return from an abbreviated 2009 campaign while two-time defending mare champion Buck I St Pat is ready to make her return Friday at Harrah’s Chester.
“It’s Howard’s home track and she likes that track and it’s a good place to get her started,” trainer Ron Burke said, referring to co-owner Howard Taylor. “Basically she tells us where and when she wants to race. If she’s good, you can race her against anybody. Right now, everything’s super. She’s sound right now and doing good. Usually at the beginning of the year, she always is. It’s the end of the year that you have to worry about her holding it together.”
Corleone Kosmos, now an eight-year-old, last raced on the Fourth of July when he was third in the Titan Cup at the Meadowlands. Bothered by aches and pains, he was given six months off before returning to work at the end of December. He won the Trotting Classic last year and earned $279,022 in six starts. Last week, the trotter was first in a qualifier in 1:54.1 at the Meadowlands.
“He’s back to normal,” said Tom Haughton, who bought Corleone Kosmos as a yearling and trains him in Florida during the winter. “All those warhorses have aches and pains, but he’s never had anything too serious. He probably trained back the best I’ve ever seen him. He’s bigger and stronger than he ever was. He feels nice as far as soundness.”
In 2008, Corleone Kosmos won the Breeders Crown Trot as well as the Trotting Classic, Titan Cup and Cutler Memorial. He finished second to Enough Talk in the voting for divisional honors. In 2007, he won the Nat Ray Invitational and American-National.
“We brought him back very slowly,” Haughton said. “I jogged him about six weeks and then I started to train him. I worked out a schedule and he never missed a beat. He felt good right from the start. To me, he seems better. He seems a little more grown up. He’s always acted a little too wound up; right now he’s big and strong and seems to be more relaxed. The time off did him a ton of good.
“I think he could have his best year this year. There are some pretty good ones out there. There is only a handful that can go the last quarter in 26 seconds or so and Corleone has always been one of those.”
All of which could make life tough on Lucky Jim, who won 17 of 18 races a year ago.
“If you race long enough, you’re going to get beat,” Miller said. “It was neat to have (the Meadowlands’ win streak), but my concern is the horse’s best interest and not the record book.”
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S.
Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.