Editor's note: After the feature on Miki And Minnie was published, the connections of Chantilly announced she would be scratched from the 2025 Fan Hanover.
Craig Henderson and his partners have enjoyed the ride with Dan Patch Award-winner Miki And Minnie, and the filly’s co-owner is hoping the thrills continue when she meets Canada’s 2024 Horse of the Year, undefeated Chantilly, in the 390,000 Grade 1 Fan Hanover Stakes for three-year-old female pacers on Saturday, June 14 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
The encounter will mark the first-ever meeting between the two award-winning fillies.
Miki And Minnie has won eight of her past nine races dating back to last August, including last season’s Breeders Crown and Three Diamonds Stakes. She is two-for-two this year and enters the Fan Hanover final off a 1-1/2 length victory in her elimination this past Saturday, when she was timed in 1:50.2 with a :25.1 last quarter. No horse came home faster during the 13-race card at Mohawk.
Chantilly is 12-for-12 lifetime and heads to the Fan Hanover off a five-length 1:50.1 triumph in her elimination last week. She is the even-money morning-line favourite in the final, leaving from post three with James MacDonald driving for trainer Nick Gallucci. Miki And Minnie is the 6-5 second choice, starting from post five with Dexter Dunn at the lines for trainer Chris Ryder. No other horse is less than 12-1.
“This, to me, is the most anticipated race in years,” Henderson said. “You’ve got the Canadian O’Brien Horse of the Year – not just two-year-old pacing filly of the year, the Horse of the Year – against the two-year-old Dan Patch pacing filly. It’s going to be a helluva race.
“(Miki And Minnie) raced big last week. Dexter didn’t do anything to encourage her, she did all that on her own. She just loves to come from off the pace, and she just won’t quit. It’s just sort of amazing, :25.1. But Chantilly had plenty of gas left in the tank too. It’s going to be a phenomenal race.”
Miki And Minnie, a daughter of Always B Miki-Thats The Ticket, has hit the board in all 13 of her career races, with eight victories, four seconds and a third on her way to $1.15 million in earnings for owners Henderson, Bob Mondillo and Larry Minowitz. The same trio bred Miki And Minnie and raced the filly’s mom, who won the 2016 Three Diamonds Stakes.
“The whole thing has been amazing,” Henderson said. “My first horse was (Dan Patch Award-winner) Put On A Show, but this is even more exciting given the fact that she is a homebred. We were going to sell Thats The Ticket and Chris said not to sell her because she was going to produce something big. Little did we know that we’d have Miki And Minnie.
“She’s quite a horse. I’m going to give you four words to describe her today: Bigger, stronger, faster, and ready. She is absolutely, I think, at her peak going into this race. We’ll see what happens. Chantilly is a heck of a racehorse. I have no idea how this is going to go.”
Miki And Minnie has shown a penchant for coming off the pace in her races, such as when she captured last year’s Breeders Crown from post nine at The Meadowlands with a first-over move from fifth on the backstretch. Only twice has she led at the half-mile point in any of her 13 lifetime starts, most recently in a Pennsylvania All-Stars victory at Mohegan Pennsylvania’s Pocono Downs on May 12.
“She absolutely loves to come from off the pace and win,” Henderson said. “She won’t quit in the stretch, her desire to win is overwhelming. That’s the thing I like most about this horse, she just hates to lose, and she can come from literally almost anywhere to win.
“Now, Saturday, I have no idea what is going to happen. She won her start at Pocono on the front end, which is a little unusual for her, but it’s a good sign that she can do that. I don’t think this race will set up that way, but who knows. It will be a very, very exciting race, and what a card.”
Mohawk’s Saturday card also includes the $1 million Grade 1 Pepsi North America Cup for three-year-old pacers and the $287,000 Grade 1 Roses Are Red Stakes for older female pacers, as well as Grade 2 stakes in the $227,000 Goodtimes for three-year-old male trotters and the $210,000 Armbro Flight for older female trotters.
The 1-5 morning-line favourite in the Roses Are Red is Miki And Minnie’s stablemate, Twin B Joe Fresh, the 2024 Dan Patch Horse of the Year. Twin B Joe Fresh has won 31 of 41 career races, hit the board a total of 39 times, and earned $2.75 million.
“Miki And Minnie trained during the winter with Twin B Joe Fresh,” Henderson said, adding with a laugh, “Hopefully, she picked up a few things.”
Racing begins at 6:35 p.m. (EDT) at Woodbine Mohawk Park. To view Saturday's harness racing entries, click one of the following links: Pepsi North America Cup Night -- Saturday Entries || North America Cup Card Program Pages (courtesy TrackIT).
(USTA)