Mister Big, Enough Talk and Shadow Play will be among the horses competing Saturday at Balmoral Park in Chicago as part of the American-National Festival of Racing.
Five American-National events, with total purses of $1.1 million, will be held for trotters and pacers. The card includes the $300,000 American-National for three-year-old male pacers, the $200,000 older pace, the $190,000 older trot, the $170,000 two-year-old male pace, the $165,000 three-year-old filly pace, and the $116,000 two-year-old filly pace.
Shadow Play, who won the Windy City Pace at Maywood Park on October 10, headlines the American-National for three-year-old pacers. Among his other victories this season are the Little Brown Jug and Adios. He is coming off a second-place finish to Somebeachsomewhere in the Messenger Stakes at Yonkers Raceway last Saturday.
No one would blame trainer/co-owner Dr. Ian Moore for wondering how the colt could put in such a stout performance in the Messenger and still not win. The son of The Panderosa was second to Somebeachsomewhere by a neck, cutting all the fractions in a 1:52.1 mile in a downpour and turning in a last quarter-mile identical to the winner – :27.2.
"That was just my thought exactly," Moore, a veterinarian, said with a laugh. "He came out of it really well and I stayed down there until Sunday evening. The track was hard and you'd have to think that was stinging him a little bit, because he's still missing a good portion of the wall on his right front. But he never showed anything, no blood or anything. He steered well in the race, seemed good. He's at Mark Ford's training center (in Orange County, New York). It doesn't have any paddocks or turnouts and this guy loves turnouts, so we trucked him to Mark's home, about 15 miles away and turned him out for a couple hours Sunday. He got to bucking and had it going on. He had Monday off; we left him at the farm."
Dr. Moore is home on Prince Edward Island, but Shadow Play is headed west.
"Right now, he's on the way to Chicago," Moore said Wednesday. "I hemmed and hawed over Chicago or Dover (for the Progress Pace). The colt has had 22 starts; I think I'm pushing the envelope pretty good on him now. I would like to save him for the Breeders Crown (elims on November 22; final November 29) if I can. He's been going since January 5 and I do see some subtle things from him in the stall, when you're in there picking his stall or feeding him, that weren't there earlier. I also noticed last year at the end of his two-year-old year, he was getting to where he'd had enough.
"He's real good in weight, he's actually maybe a touch fat, he has been his whole life. Not fat, but he's a little overweight in my opinion. You've got to push pretty hard to feel some ribs. You go in there and he might pin his ears a little bit, that sort of thing, and he didn't do that all summer. Last year as a two-year-old in November he did that. We were trying to drag him on a little bit at the end of last year as well. I hope I can keep him going. He really likes his turnouts."
Moore said that considerations in keeping the colt fresh tipped his choice to Balmoral for the American-National, rather than Dover Downs for the Progress Pace.
"It would have been five hours down to Dover and five back and that would have been 10 hours all in one day," he noted. "It would have been two weeks of racing, because they have eliminations there. Chicago is a 15-hour truck, but it's only one race for $300,000 and they treated us pretty good when we were out at Maywood (for the Windy City Pace) and I enjoyed myself, so we decided to go back there."
Here is the field in post-position order (with drivers/trainers):
1. Mucho Sleazy (M. Oosting/K. Rucker)
2. Lets Getit Started (T. Tetrick/R. Welch)
3. Upfront Hannahsboy (T. Tetrick/J. Arledge Jr.)
4. Corner Blitz (D. Magee/J. Smith)
5. Shadow Play (D. Miller/I. Moore)
6. Blueridge Western (D. Palone/M. Burke)
7. Robin I Scoot (D. Magee/D. Perdue)
8. Brother Ray (D. Miller/K. Rucker)
9. Valentowner (B. Sears/J. Arledge Jr.)
10. Lisfinny (D. Miller/R. McIntosh)
Mister Big goes for his 10th consecutive win in Saturday's $200,000 American-National for older pacers. The five-year-old is coming off a victory in the $317,000 Bobby Quillen Memorial at Harrington Raceway on October 20 and is making his first, and only, Chicagoland appearance of the campaign.
Mister Big has won 11 of 13 races this year and earned $1.5 million for driver Brian Sears, trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. and owner Joe Muscara. His earnings are a single-season record for an older pacer, eclipsing the $1.3 million Mister Big banked in 2007. In addition, Mister Big is the only pacer in history to post million-dollar seasons at ages four and five.
With a win in the American-National, Mister Big will have posted victories at seven different tracks this year.
"He's doing great. He trained today (Wednesday) and he was super," Morgan said.
Following the American-National, Mister Big will head to Canada for the Gold Cup at Woodbine Racetrack on November 15. That will be the final start of a season in which he has won the Breeders Crown, Canadian Pacing Derby, William R. Haughton Memorial, U.S. Pacing Championship and Allerage. He was second in the Ben Franklin.
Mister Big is ranked No. 3 in the current Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll, behind three-year-old trotter Deweycheatumnhowe and three-year-old pacer Somebeachsomewhere. In some years, Mister Big would be a top contender for Horse of the Year, but he received only one of 35 first-place votes in the poll.
"That's the way it goes," Morgan said. "What are you going to do? You can't really worry about that. You just do the best you can do. I'll leave that up to the public and the writers. I just let the horse speak for himself."
Mister Big could join Red Bow Tie (1998-99) as the only horses to win back-to-back Older Pacer of the Year honors in the last 30 years. "That's an honor in itself," Morgan said.
Saturday's American-National field also includes the event's defending champion, Maltese Artist and Dan Patch Invitational winner Won The West. Maltese Artist and Won The West finished in a dead heat for second in the Quillen.
Here is the field in post-position order (with drivers/trainers)
1. Benns Superman (B. Hanners/H. Lunsford)
2. Mister Big (T. Morgan/V. Morgan Jr.)
3. Booze Cruzin (S. Widger/J. Seekman)
4. Won The West (Y. Gingras/M. Burke)
5. Fox Valley Gambler (T. Buter/P. Smith)
6. My Boy David (B. Holland/H. Hochstetler)
7. Action Figure (B. Kramer/M. St. Charles)
8. KF St Patrick (B. Miller/M. Medors)
9. Thisbigdogwilfight (D. Magee/J. Eaton)
10. Maltese Artist (Y. Gingras/M. Burke)
Enough Talk, the fastest trotter in history by virtue of his 1:49.3 mile in the Patriot at Colonial Downs on October 10, is among the nine horses entered in Saturday's $190,000 American-National for older trotters. He is coming off a win in the Oleg Cassini Invitational by two lengths over Beach Nut Brand in 1:57.4 at Yonkers Raceway last Saturday.
For the year, counting starts in Europe, Enough Talk has won seven of 23 starts and earned $740,665. He was second in the Maple Leaf Trot and third in the Nat Ray and Trotting Classic.
Prayer I Am, who upset Arch Madness and Enough Talk at odds of 83-1 in the Allerage on October 4 at Lexington's Red Mile, also is in the American-National. His 1:51.4 victory in the Allerage is tied for fourth-fastest win time of the year among all trotters.
Here is the field in post-position order (with drivers/trainers):
1. Lanson (M. O'Mara/D. Swick)
2. Enough Talk (R. Pierce/P. Kleinhans)
3. Dunkster (K. Sugg/K. Sugg)
4. LTs Best (V. Copeland/T. Barrett)
5. Digital Image (D. Miller/G. Maltby)
6. Make You Mine (B. Hanners/H. Lunsford)
7. Dink Adoo (M. Oosting/K. Rucker)
8. Killer Whale (S. Widger/H. Lunsford)
9. Prayer I Am (D. Miller/K. Thomas)
Two speedsters, Annieswesterncard and Standupnkissme, are among the 10 horses in Saturday's $170,000 American-National for two-year-old male pacers at Balmoral Park. Only Sheer Desire's world-record-equaling 1:49.3 win is better in the division than the 1:50.3 marks put up by Annieswesterncard and Standupnkissme.
Annieswesterncard, who was third in the Metro Pace at Mohawk and won a division of The Elevation at Indiana Downs, was victorious in his American-National elimination race by 3-1/4 lengths over Ohio Sire Stakes champion Standupnkissme in 1:54.2 on October 25. Schoolkids, who earlier this year won a Bluegrass Stakes division that included Annieswesterncard, claimed the other Am-Nat elim by defeating Doubletrouble by three lengths in 1:53.
Here is the field in post-position order (with drivers/trainers)
1. Gordieisanartist (K. Sugg/K. Sugg)
2. Grandma Jan's Max (B. Holland/E. Miller)
3. Smellthecolornine (T. Buter/E. Miller)
4. Doubletrouble (D. Magee/S. Foster)
5. Annieswesterncard (T. Seekman/J. Seekman)
6. Schoolkids (T. Tetrick/T. Brainard)
7. Russs Ztam (S. Widger/D. McCaffrey)
8. Sand Benelli (D. Noble/J. Arledge Jr.)
9. Standupnkissme (D. Miller/J. Mulinix)
10. Major Scoot (M. Oosting/K. Rucker)
Four of the 10 starters hail from the Erv Miller barn, including Ideal Nectarine, who was runner-up in divisions of the Bluegrass Stakes and Glen Garnsey, and Sportsfancy winner Westside Gritty.
Kentucky Sire Stakes champion and Bluegrass division winner Btwnyurheartnmine is among the top contenders. Westside Gritty has the field's fastest time, at 1:50, which is tied for third best among all three-year-old filly pacers this season and is one-fifth better than Btwnyurheartnmine's top finish.
Here is the field in post-position order (with drivers/trainers):
1. Ideal Nectarine (T. Buter/E. Miller)
2. Btwnyurheartnmine (T. Tetrick/R. Croghan)
3. Sand Pleasure (D. Miller/K. Rucker)
4. Teenage Paige (A. Miller/E. Miller)
5. Kellys Keepsake (R. Pierce/E. Miller)
6. Desirable Cindy (T. Seekman/J. Seekman)
7. Dragonfest (D. Magee/J. Butenschoen)
8. Westside Gritty (B. Holland/E. Miller)
9. Miss Scarlet (TBA/B. Shultz)
10. Dont Deny Me (M. Oosting/K. Rucker)
She's A Great Lady winner Right Right is among the 10 entries in Saturday's $116,000 American-National for two-year-old filly pacers. Right Right, one of three Erv Miller trainees in the field, also was second in the Sweetheart.
Orange and Blue winner Fox Valley Topaz goes for her ninth win of the season. She has earned $244,350 this year and her mark of 1:52.1 is tied for the seventh fastest win time of the season among two-year-old filly pacers. Another Am-Nat starter, Thou Shalt Not, also has won in 1:52.1 this year. She won a division of the Bluegrass Stakes at the Red Mile on September 24, beating Hawaiian Drink by two lengths. Hawaiian Drink won the Three Diamonds last week.
Here is the field in post-position order (with drivers/trainers):
1. Fox Valley Topaz (M. Oosting/K. Rucker)
2. Right Right (A. Miller/E. Miller)
3. Windy City Toots (S. Widger/S. Nessa)
4. Native Flower (B. Miller/J. Arledge Jr.)
5. Thou Shalt Not (R. Pierce/E. Miller)
6. Notjustaprettyface (T. Tetrick/M. Chupp)
7. Honeys Luck (B. Holland/E. Miller)
8. Angel Ofthe West (D. Sugg/D. Sugg)
9. Park Lane Dream (B. Simpson/H. Hochstetler)
10. Kennans Ellery (D. Hiteman/J. Smith)
(HRC)