The 98th Hambletonian begins on Saturday (July 29) at the Meadowlands Racetrack with a pair of $100,000 eliminations, and there are three sons of Ontario sires looking to qualify for next weekend's million-dollar final.
One of those horses is Ghostly Casper from the barn of Ben Baillargeon. Hall of Famer David Miller will pilot the son of Resolve from post three in the first elimination, slated as the sixth race.
“We drew good, and I have Dave Miller driving him,” said Baillargeon. “I have a good relationship with him when I go to the states. I think he is a very classy driver, and he has nothing to prove to nobody and I am very good with him driving my horse.”
Ghostly Casper’s 2023 racelines show a mixed bag of results. He started his stakes engagements by going offstride in the SBOA Stakes, and then rebounded with a sharp off-the-pace score in the opening Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Gold leg of the season.
In his Goodtimes elimination, he battled traffic to finish fourth and qualify for the final where he again faced traffic and finished eighth.
Next time out, he dominated conditioned foes, winning by three lengths on June 27, and in the most recent OSS Gold leg on July 8, he was second with plenty of trot coming down the stretch.
“His last race was awesome. It was a big race,” said Baillargeon. “Ten feet after the wire he was in front. He was three-wide in the last turn and trotted [1:52.3] and got beat by barely a head.”
His most recent result combined with scheduling that gave him three weeks between the last Gold leg and the Hambo eliminations were the among the factors that led to Baillargeon and his ownership partners — Santo Vena, Nunzio Vena and Theresa Davidson — to send their colt to one of North American harness racing's most elusive and prized events.
He also came out of his last race in good condition and has trained well since, putting in a 1:55 mile last week and training solidly again this week.
As of Thursday (July 28), it was just Baillargeon and Ghostly Casper down in New Jersey, with Santo and Nunzio arriving on Saturday.
“It is me and my horse -- I take care of him, I’m grooming him and I am doing everything,” said Baillargeon. “So just me and one horse, but I take care of him at the farm too, I’m his caretaker on top of his trainer and his owner. I am everything to him. I know all of his quirks.”
The Hambletonian is arguably the greatest prize in harness racing and Baillargeon is looking forward to having a horse in the race. His first Hambletonian starter, Alarm Detector, finished sixth in the 2018 final.
“To win this race, and hopefully we make the final, you have to everything work for you that day,” said Baillargeon. “Not only my horse but every horse. In a race like that, the trip has to work out, everything has to work out and all the stars have to be aligned.”
Osceola, one of the other Ontario-sired entrants, is also in race six, having drawn the rail position for trainer Gregg McNair with his son Doug in the bike.
The son of Muscle Mass is an exceptionally talented colt, but has struggled with consistency throughout his racing career. This season, he has two wins from five starts, but made breaks in both of his last two outings. To prep for the elimination, he minded his manners in a qualifier on July 21 at Mohawk, winning by 13 lengths in 1:53.4. McNair co-owns the colt with Willow Oak Ranch and Paul Hawman.
The third Ontario-sired contender is Tuscan Prince, who drew the rail position in race nine, the second elimination.
Trained by Luc Blais for Serge Godin’s Determination, Tuscan Prince was the top Ontario-sired finisher in the 2023 Goodtimes with a third-place result. In six starts this year he has five top-three finishes with two wins and three thirds. He’ll need to be sharp for driver Louis-Philippe Roy on Saturday to advance to the following weekend.
Click here for a PDF program to view the full list of entries on July 29 at The Meadowlands.
(OSS)