Dan Patch Award winner Karl is scheduled to be among the stars making their first appearances of 2024 when The Meadowlands hosts 18 qualifiers on Saturday morning, April 27.
Karl is the No. 1-ranked horse in Meadowlands announcer/analyst Ken Warkentin’s Hambletonian Winter Book Top 10.
Two older male pacers with Dan Patch honours to their credit, Bythemissal and Allywag Hanover, are also expected to be stepping out for the first time as will older male trotter Venerate (also a past Dan Patch Award recipient), millionaire female pacer Twin B Joe Fresh, Breeders Crown Two-Year-Old Colt Pace champ Gem Quality and Three Diamonds winner Caviart Belle.
Karl won nine of 10 races last year, with his setback coming by a nose to T C I, and earned $1.04 million. His USD earnings ranked second in history for a two-year-old male trotter, behind only T C I, who banked $1.45 million ($1.23 million USD) last season. His victories included the Breeders Crown, Valley Victory, Kindergarten Classic Series final and Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship Series final.
His mark of 1:51.2 was the second fastest in history for a two-year-old male trotter and he captured the Breeders Crown in a stakes and track record 1:51.4 at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. He also won the Valley Victory with a stakes record 1:52.1 performance.
“He had a good winter,” said Nancy Takter, who trains and co-owns Karl with her mother Christina, Black Horse Racing, Crawford Farms Racing and Bender Sweden. “He’s special. No matter what you do with him, he wants to please you, and he’s very smart. I think that is what sets him aside and makes him a little different. He’s smarter than a lot of horses I’ve been around.
“I think he knows he’s special. He just has that aura around him.”
Takter has seven other horses entered in the qualifiers, including Caviart Belle. The daughter of Captaintreacherous-Eloquent Grace closed out her 2023 season with wins in the Three Diamonds and Kindergarten Classic Series final. She won a division of the Eternal Camnation in a stakes record 1:50.1, erasing the mark of 1:50.2 established by Precocious Beauty in 2013, and earned $488,555 for the year.
Bythemissal won 11 of 16 races last season at age four and was named the sport’s best older male pacer by the U.S. Harness Writers Association. The Ron Burke-trained son of Downbytheseaside-Dismissal earned just over $1 million last year and has banked $2.23 million lifetime.
Allywag Hanover, who was the Dan Patch Award winner for best older male pacer in 2021, counted the FanDuel Open Pace championship, Harrah’s Hoosier Park Pacing Derby and a division of the Sam McKee Memorial among his wins last year. Trained by Brett Pelling, the seven-year-old son of Captaintreacherous-Anderosa Hanover has earned $2.39 million in his career.
Venerate, a Dan Patch Award winner at age two, won the Cutler Memorial last year for trainer Marcus Melander. The six-year-old son of Love You-Peaceful Kemp has $1.28 million in career purses.
Trainer Chris Ryder will send out seven horses Saturday, including Twin B Joe Fresh and Gem Quality.
Twin B Joe Fresh won 11 of 17 races last season, when she capped her campaign by becoming the first three-year-old filly to defeat older female pacers in the FanDuel Mares Pace championship. Other victories for the daughter of Roll With Joe-Fresh Breeze included the Lynch Memorial, Matron and Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship Series final. She has hit the board in 25 of 27 career starts, winning 19, and earned $1.45 million.
Gem Quality also ended his 2023 on a high note, taking the Breeders Crown for two-year-old male pacers in a track record 1:50 at Hoosier Park. The son of Captain Crunch-Twinkle earned $442,710 for the season.
Qualifiers begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday at The Meadowlands.
(With files from USTA)