The entry box for the Crawford Farms Meadowlands Pace eliminations doesn't close until Tuesday but the race already has one confirmed entrant, and that entrant's owner is paying nearly $60,000 for the opportunity.
Adriano Sorella confirmed to Trot Insider on Sunday night that he'd be paying the supplemental entry fee to race sophomore Jimmy Freight in the 2018 Meadowlands Pace.
"You could wait an entire lifetime to have a nice horse, you might as well take the chances given to you," said Sorella, who's been waiting to have a horse able to compete with this calibre since owning a piece of 2013 Little Brown Jug and O'Brien Award winner Vegas Vacation.
Trained as a sophomore by Richard Moreau, Jimmy Freight (Sportswriter - Allamerican Summer) sports a summary of 5-1-1 from his seven starts this season and pocketed $151,900 along the way for Sorella, who purchased the colt from the Iowa Fair circuit one year ago. Jimmy Freight's most recent victory against Ontario Sires Stakes competition resulted in a new lifetime mark of 1:49.2.
In his start before that, he finished third in the Mohawk Gold Cup against older foes, pacing his mile in 1:49. He tested Grand Circuit types one month ago in the 2018 Somebeachsomewhere, winning handily in 1:50.2.
Sorella did confirm that Jimmy Freight's regular driver Louis-Philippe Roy, Canada's leading driver both in terms of wins and earnings at the halfway point of the calendar year, would retain the drive at The Meadowlands.
The entry box closes for the 2018 Meadowlands Pace eliminations on Tuesday (July 3). A total of 34 three-year-olds made the final eligibility payment on April 15, but like Jimmy Freight others could be entered for a supplemental fee. That would have to be the case for the connections of 2018 North America Cup champ Lather Up, who like Jimmy Freight was not kept eligible.