George Teague Jr. saw dreams come true with Somwherovrarainbow in 2012. He visualizes the possibility of another strong season from the filly pacer this year.
Somwherovrarainbow, who was last season’s Dan Patch Award winner for best two-year-old filly pacer, will make her three-year-old debut in Friday night’s $38,415 John Simpson Memorial at the Meadowlands Racetrack. She drew post four, with Montrell Teague set to drive, and faces five rivals: O Narutac Rockette, Authorize, Shebestingin, JK Letitgo and Somstreetsomwhere. The race is a non-wagering event, set to take place between races 6 and 7.
Authorize was last year’s New Jersey Sire Stakes champion. Shebestingin was a stakes winner who saw her season cut short by injury after a 3-for-3 start. She won her first two races this year before finishing second by a neck to Jerseylicious in the Bobby Weiss Series final at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.
Last year, Somwherovrarainbow won seven of 11 races and finished the season with a six-race win streak. Her victories included the Breeders Crown and Matron Stakes, helping her to $527,156 in earnings. She prepped for her seasonal opener by winning qualifiers at Dover Downs, Harrah’s Philadelphia and the Meadowlands.
“So far so good; three qualifiers under her belt and she did them exactly the way you want to do them. She got a chance to sit in a little bit (at Harrah’s Philadelphia on April 9) and she was perfect, nice and loose in the pocket. Everything is pretty much ideal.”
Somwherovrarainbow is a daughter of two Horse of the Year award winners: Somebeachsomewhere and Rainbow Blue. Teague trained Rainbow Blue, who in 2004 became only the third filly pacer in harness racing history to be named Horse of the Year.
Only one other mating of Horse of the Year winners has resulted in a divisional champion, when trotters Victory Song (the first Horse of the Year in 1947) and Emily’s Pride (1958) produced Noble Victory, who was the 1964 two-year-old trotter of the year.
Teague and fellow Rainbow Blue owners Kevin Fry and Ron Fry are the breeders of Somwherovrarainbow and now own her with Ted Gewertz. Somwherovrarainbow faces comparisons to Rainbow Blue, but Teague does not mind.
“That’s not a bad one to compare her to,” he said, laughing. “I love that part.
“But I don’t want her to be her mom. I just want her to be herself, or a little bit better, I hope. I know she’s got more speed than her mom, which is a great asset. But it’s a different era. It’s different than it was 10 years ago; horses are improving all the time.”
Last year, Somwherovrarainbow closed her season with a stakes-record-equaling 1:51.3 triumph in the Matron at Dover Downs. She set her mark of 1:51.2 in winning her elimination for the Breeders Crown at Woodbine and captured the final in 1:52.2 (over a track labeled good) a week later.
“She started to mature toward the middle to end of last year, which is always good when you can finish off a year like that,” Teague said. “She was a little more aggressive early on in the year, so she’s learning her way around the racetrack and she seems to be coming back a lot more relaxed than last year when she was starting off.”
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.