When it comes to racing, M Ms Dream is a dream come true.
The five-year-old is four-for-four this season, has hit the board in 37 of 40 career races with 29 victories, and will head to Saturday’s $233,000 Armbro Flight Stakes final for older female trotters at Woodbine Mohawk Park as the 4-5 morning-line favourite for driver David Miller and trainer Ron Burke.
“She’s just a machine,” said Burke. “You put her behind the gate, you aim her and she goes. I really love her.”
M Ms Dream will enter the Armbro Flight final off a 1:52.4 win in her elimination last week, when she defeated Tipsy Moni by 1-1/4 lengths over a track labelled 'good.' A week earlier, M Ms Dream won the second round of the Miss Versatility Series at Mohawk in 1:51.3, the quickest trotting mile of the season for a female trotter in Canada and just one-fifth of a second off the fastest overall.
“She does some pretty amazing things,” Miller said after last week’s win. “She’s just a very game horse.”
M Ms Dream is owned by Eleven Star Stables, Frank Baldachino and Hillside Stables. As a two and three-year-old, she raced exclusively in Indiana, where she was a two-time Sire Stakes champion. Last year, she hit the Grand Circuit with Burke and Miller and won the Hambletonian Maturity, Dr. John R. Steele Memorial and Miss Versatility Series final.
She faced eventual Dan Patch Award winner Jiggy Jog S five times last season and handed the mare two of her three defeats. She finished second to Jiggy Jog S in the Breeders Crown and Dayton Oaks.
“You still pinch yourself,” said Eleven Star Stables’ Henry Graber Jr., who trains the mare in Indiana. “It doesn’t seem real when you watch some of the replays. I knew she was going to be competitive, but we weren’t expecting to beat some of the horses we beat. You get goosebumps watching her race.”
Among M Ms Dream’s wins this season is a 1:51.1 triumph at Harrah’s Hoosier Park, which equalled the track record for a female trotter set by Jiggy Jog S.
“She was great last year, and she’s great this year,” Burke said about M Ms Dream, a daughter of Swan For All-Trading Places. “She’s smart, does anything you want. She’s just a really good horse.”
M Ms Dream, who has earned $1.51 million lifetime, will start on Saturday from post six in a field of 10. Call Me Goo, who won the other Armbro Flight elimination in 1:53.3, is the 9-2 second choice with Tim Tetrick driving from post five for trainer Jason Skinner.
Burke has won the Armbro Flight six times; three times with Hannelore Hanover, twice with Atlanta and once with Buck I St Pat.
In addition to M Ms Dream, Burke’s stakes starters Saturday include My Girl EJ and Canigetalouploup in the $425,000 Fan Hanover Stakes for three-year-old female pacers. The Burke duo captured last week’s eliminations, My Girl EJ by a head over returning Dan Patch Award-winner Geocentric in 1:50.1 and Canigetalouploup by 1-3/4 lengths over Its A Love Thing in 1:51.1. Both races were over a track labelled 'good.'
The winners were driven by Dexter Dunn. He will stay with My Girl EJ in the final, leaving from post six, while Miller will drive Canigetalouploup from post three.
My Girl EJ won last year’s Breeders Crown for two-year-old female pacers and was the fastest two-year-old pacer of the season with a mark of 1:49.1. For her career, the daughter of Sweet Lou-Lucys Pearl has hit the board in 14 of 15 races, winning six and earning $750,483.
In her first start this year, My Girl EJ finished second in a division of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes on May 17 at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows. Burke put the filly in a qualifier on June 1 at The Meadowlands, where she won in 1:52.3 with a :26 last quarter, setting her up for her Fan Hanover elimination.
My Girl EJ is the 3-1 morning-line second choice in the final, leaving from post six. Geocentric, who has 10 wins and a second in 12 career races, is the 5-2 favourite with Tim Tetrick driving from post five for trainer Brian Brown.
“The first start, I was a little disappointed, so I gave her another qualifier and she came back strong off that,” Burke said about My Girl EJ, who was bred by Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi and Elizabeth Novak, and is owned by the same group plus Mitchell Friesen. “She’s come back just unbelievable. [In her elimination], she took on everyone, made multiple moves and still was digging at the wire.
“I’ve said all along, Geocentric is a great horse, but I would not trade them. I think my filly is as good as anything.”
Canigetalouploup was a winner on the Grand Circuit last year and her mark of 1:50.4 fell just one-fifth of a second outside the Top 10 for a two-year-old filly pacer. For her career, she has won five of 18 career races, and is two-for-three this season, with back-to-back victories in a conditioned event followed by the Fan Hanover elimination.
In the elim, Canigetalouploup was eighth with a quarter-mile to go but found room along the pylons to win with a :27.1 last panel.
“She is a little bit fractious, but she showed what we know she shows at times,” said Burke. “She’s very fast. That whole family is fast. With her, you just have to keep her head calm. David goes back on her, who has done good with her prior, so I think we’re set up for a good day. I was thrilled with both my horses.”
Canigetalouploup, a daughter of Sweet Lou-Continual Velocity, is owned by breeders Burke Racing and Weaver Bruscemi along with Larry Karr and Phil Collura. She will start the Fan Hanover final from post three and is 10-1 on the morning line.
Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi, Baldachino and Rich Lombardo Racing also own homebred Fan Hanover finalist Pass Line, last year’s divisional O’Brien Award winner, who is trained by Dave Menary. She is 6-1, leaving from post seven with driver Scott Zeron.
In addition to the Armbro Flight and Fan Hanover, Mohawk will host the $1 million Pepsi North America Cup for three-year-old pacers on Saturday as well as the $305,000 Roses Are Red for older female pacers and $225,000 Goodtimes for three-year-old male trotters.
Racing begins at 6:30 p.m. (EDT) on Saturday at Woodbine Mohawk Park. For a free Mohawk program for Saturday, click here.
To view Saturday's harness racing entries, click the following link: Saturday Entries - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(USTA)