Pizzelle, winner of last year’s $428,000 Goldsmith Maid for freshman filly trotters, headlines the field for Friday’s $52,355 USD Currier & Ives filly division at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows.
First post is 5:10 p.m., with the Currier & Ives going as race six. The Currier & Ives open division is set for Saturday, June 15.
Pizzelle banked $315,850 at two with a mark of 1:53.2, but trainer Chris Beaver still isn’t sure what exactly he has.
“She’s probably the most talented horse I’ve laid hands on,” Beaver said of the daughter of Walner-Biscotti. “She’s not necessarily the fastest, but with her natural ability, she’s like a different breed.
“One problem I had with her last year, as talented as she is, she couldn’t take hard trips. After she got roughed up, I had to turn her out for a couple weeks to get her attitude back. She’s more interested in her work this year, but we don’t know what she can do yet. She hasn’t been tested against really good three-year-olds, but as far as I can tell, everything is there.”
A $65,000 yearling acquisition for Beaver and Donald Robinson, Pizzelle is eligible to all the big stakes, including the Hambletonian Oaks. Still, Beaver is trying to pick his spots for her. For example, although she’s dually eligible in New Jersey and Kentucky, Beaver skipped the New Jersey Sires Stakes series so he wouldn’t overwork or overship her early in the season.
Pizzelle goes from post six on Friday with Tyler Smith up.
If Pizzelle does get roughed up, Beaver has another Currier & Ives possibility — that’s her name, actually, Possibility, a daughter of What The Hill-Market Rally who’s done well in her own right, with $125,779 on her card. Beaver is more cautious about the $95,000 yearling purchase he owns with Bill Donovan, Joe Sbrocco and Mark Moger.
“She hasn’t really fired this year like she did last year,” he said. “Her stakes are in Ohio for the most part, and she’ll probably go into the Stallion Series.”
Aaron Merriman will drive her from post one.
In this, the 50th edition of the Currier & Ives, it’s fitting that Beaver has a pair of the leading contenders, as few, if any trainers, have enjoyed as much success in this historic stakes — in both the open and filly divisions. In 2014, he sent out Il Sogno Dream, who triumphed in 1:53.2, still the stakes record. Triumphant Caviar won for Beaver in 2009.
Beaver’s other Currier & Ives winners include: To B Mz America (2002), Fraser Ridge (2017), Keystone Abbey (2019), Perron (2021) and Caviar Gold (2022). Beaver modestly calls his success a numbers game.
“It’s close to home, so I’ve staked a lot of horses to the Currier & Ives. A lot of times, you can avoid some of the top horses because there are so many other things going on.”
If Beaver’s Currier & Ives success is indeed a numbers game, it looks like the numbers are with him again.
(Meadows Standardbred Owners Association)