Lucky Jim has Post 2 in a $40,000 prep race Friday at the Meadowlands Racetrack for the $200,000 Titan Cup for older trotters, July 3 at the Big M. This will be Lucky Jim’s first start back in the U.S. since he was
parked out and failed to qualify for the final of the $500,000 Elitlopp in Sweden on May 30.
Trainer Julie Miller says Lucky Jim, who is ranked No. 2 in the sport’s most recent Top 10 poll, is none the worse for the trip.
“For how rigorous and how long the trip was, and being in quarantine for two days, he really came back in good shape,” she said. “He’s so easy on himself; he lost a little bit of weight, but he’s good now. There were a lot of delays on the trip back to the U.S., and I think he was happy to be back home at Gaitway Farm [in central New Jersey].”
Lucky Jim, driven by Miller’s husband, Andy, has won four of six races in the States this year, earning $191,000. He won the Su Mac Lad Series final on April 16 at the Meadowlands and was second to Arch Madness in the Arthur J. Cutler Memorial on May 15. Last year, Lucky Jim won 17 of 18 races and was voted the sport’s best older male trotter in the U.S.
“I think he will be fine,” Miller said. “He’s a horse that doesn’t take a lot of training to do well and he’ll be back on his home turf. He loves the Meadowlands. Here’s the bottom line – it’s good to be home.”
Arch Madness will be among Lucky Jim’s rivals Friday. Arch Madness has won consecutive races after starting the season with four setbacks. After winning the Cutler in stakes-record time (1:51), Arch Madness won an Open Handicap at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs with a world-record clocking of 1:51 around a five-eighths of a mile track. The six-year-old gelding’s time smashed the mark of 1:51.3 set by Varenne in 2002.
Friday’s field also includes Buck I St Pat, who has won three of five races this year including the Honourable Earl Rowe Memorial Cup on May 29 at Georgian Downs. The mare was voted the sport’s best older female trotter in the U.S. each of the past two seasons.
Enough Talk also will be in action, having returned from a three-race campaign in Europe. Enough Talk failed to reach the Elitlopp final after hitting his right knee during his elimination race.
“His knee was pretty blown up,” trainer Peter Kleinhans said. “He was hitting his right knee, which is something he’s never done before. He seems fine now. We haven’t trained him that much; he definitely needs a race. I think he’ll be OK in this [prep] and be a lot better next week. But he’s feeling great. He’s a good-feeling horse in general.”
In Focus, Keystone Activator, Corleone Kosmos and Lanson round out the field.
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.