After seeing Wild Bill suffer an injury at age two and from bleeding issues this year at three, trainer Ray Schnittker hopes his colt is ready to turn the corner beginning in this Saturday’s (Aug. 25) eliminations for the Messenger Stakes at Yonkers Raceway.
Wild Bill, a full brother to Dan Patch Award-winner Huntsville, will adds lasix for his upcoming race following off-the-board finishes in his past two starts. For his career, he has won three of eight races and earned $58,391 for Schnittker, who bred Wild Bill with the late Charlie Iannazzo and remains the owner of the colt.
“He hadn’t been racing that well,” Schnittker said. “We scoped him and he was bleeding pretty badly, so we put him on lasix. I think it’s going to make a big difference. He trained very well on it and I think it’ll be a factor. It seems like it really made a difference, but we’re going to find out quickly on Saturday.”
The Messenger Stakes is the second jewel in the Pacing Triple Crown. Stay Hungry won the first jewel, the Cane Pace, on August 4 at The Meadowlands. The final jewel, the Little Brown Jug, will be contested on September 20.
Stay Hungry and Wild Bill were among 11 horses entered in the Messenger. The top-four finishers from each of Saturday’s two $40,000 eliminations will advance to the $500,000 final on September 1 at Yonkers. Racing will begin at 6:50 p.m. (EDT) and the Messenger eliminations have been programmed as Race 5 and 6.
Wild Bill won the first two races of his career – including a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes division that included future open-stakes winners Nutcracker Sweet, Hayden Hanover, and Dorsoduro Hanover – before consecutive fifth-place finishes that proved to be his final starts of the season.
“He got a leg injury so we had to quit with him,” Schnittker said. “He came back a hundred per cent on that.”
Wild Bill is a son of Somebeachsomewhere out of Schnittker’s mare Wild West Show, who has produced stakes-winners Stevensville, Cowboy Terrier, Beachesofcheyenne, and Huntsville. In 2016, Huntsville paced a world-record-equalling 1:49 mile and was named best two-year-old male pacer. In 2017, he won the Meadowlands Pace and Cane Pace before retiring in October because of injury. His best win time of the season, 1:47.4, led all three-year-old pacers.
“He’s definitely not Huntsville, but he’s a pretty nice colt,” Schnittker said about Wild Bill. “He’s a lot smaller horse, but he’s the same type of horse – he wants to go. He’s just nice to drive, two fingers and does everything right. He’s a little smarter horse probably than Huntsville. I don’t know if he’s as fast. I think I’d rather have fast than smart.”
Wild Bill has a full stakes schedule ahead of him and Schnittker hopes the issues that have hampered the colt are things of the past.
“If he can put it together here a little bit, I’d be tickled to death if he could hit the board in the final, we’ll see what happens,” said Schnittker, who will drive Wild Bill on Saturday. “I’d be surprised if he’s not kind of right there. I’m looking for a strong second half of the year.”
The fields for the eliminations of the Messenger appear below (please note that Jimmy Freight was supplemented for $30,000).
Elimination 1
(Post, Horse, Driver, Trainer, Morning Line Odds)
1, Babes Dig Me, George Brennan, Tony Alagna, 3-1
2, Wild Bill, Ray Schnittker, Ray Schnittker, 12-1
3, JK Wildfire, Jason Bartlett, Brett Pelling, 7-2
4, Topville Olympian, Brian Sears, Chris Oakes, 3-1
5, Nutcracker Sweet, Jordan Stratton, Jimmy Takter, 3-2.
Elimination 2
(Post, Horse, Driver, Trainer, Morning Line Odds)
1, Springsteen, Brian Sears, Rene Allard, 5-2
2, Winston, Corey Callahan, John Butenschoen, 8-1
3, Decoy, Mark MacDonald, Jimmy Takter, 9-1
4, Jimmy Freight, Louis Roy, Andrew Harris, 9-5
5, Stay Hungry, Doug McNair, Tony Alagna, 2-1
6, Kwik Talkin, Jordan Stratton, Rob Harmon, 20-1
(USTA)