Breeders Crown: Relief for connections after Perfect Sting prevails in 3YO male pace

On a crisp fall Saturday afternoon (Oct. 30) at the Meadowlands, Perfect Sting became the first male pacer to win Breeders Crown trophies at 2 and 3 since Artiscape in 1997-98 when he scored a 1:49 4/5 victory in the $600,000 final for sophomore male pacers.

Unlike last year, when Perfect Sting capped off an undefeated 2-year-old campaign with a dead-heat triumph in the Breeders Crown final with Summa Cum Laude, the son of Always B Miki had the winner's circle to himself this time around, which gave a sense of relief to trainer Joe Holloway and the rest of the connections.

"Relief that he finally showed up," said Holloway, who also won back-to-back Breeders Crown championships at 2 and 3 with Jenna's Beach Boy in 1994-95. "We'd been consistent all year, but hadn't got the job done. We needed to get a signature win, and this was a pretty good way to do it."

The Breeders Crown final was billed as a showdown between Perfect Sting and Charlie May after both won their eliminations last weekend at the Meadowlands. In the final, the bettors favored Perfect Sting slightly at odds of 6-5 over second choice Charlie May at 8-5.

Off the gate, the Tim Tetrick-driven Chase H Hanover left fastest from post six, with David Miller floating Perfect Sting away from post five and Brett Miller settling Charlie May in third from post two. David Miller sent Perfect Sting to the lead at the 27 3/5 opening quarter, but Brett Miller sent Charlie May forward as they headed up the backstretch, easily securing command.

Charlie May led by three-quarters in 1:23 4/5, but Perfect Sting remained close behind. In deep stretch, he was able to surge past his rival to win by a length, pacing his final quarter in 25 4/5. Chase H Hanover held for third, five lengths behind the winner.

Perfect Sting came into the Breeders Crown final with six wins in 15 starts and earnings of $971,847, the most by any Standardbred in 2021. But he also had eight second-place finishes - all by narrow margins - and that kept the colt from getting his proper accolades, according to Holloway. Prior to the Breeders Crown, Holloway had noted that, because of the plethora of photo-finish losses, Perfect Sting was just "six feet from greatness."

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"He's been the most consistent, and he's made the most money," said Holloway. "I realize we lost a few races it looks like we should have won. I just think he's a great horse and he deserves it today.

"It never gets old, but it's really special with this horse," added Holloway, who won his ninth Breeders Crown championship.

For driver David Miller, who captured the Breeders Crown 3-Year-Old Filly Pace with Test Of Faith earlier on the card, his victory with Perfect Sting now gives him 29 championship trophies on his mantel. Two of Miller's prior Breeders Crown scores came with Perfect Sting's sire, Always B Miki, who is a two-time Crown champion.

"All year long, he's been the bridesmaid, and it's nice to see him win a big race. It's very gratifying," Miller said about Perfect Sting. "A few of those (losses) were heartbreaking. I'm so proud of him, so happy for the horse. It's a tough 3-year-old season, and he's stood up every fight and made a good showing of himself.

"It worked out perfect. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen outside of me [at the start]. I was hoping to get away somewhere close. When Timmy was the only one that left, nobody else was really firing out of there, I thought it was going to set up good for us. When [we got to the quarter in 27 3/5], I was like, 'oh, this is going to be nice.' When Brett came, I was more than happy to follow him. I just followed him all the way into the stretch. I was thinking, 'this is do-or-die here, boy.' And he got by. I was real happy. I felt pretty confident halfway through the stretch. I was getting to Charlie, and I hadn’t pulled his plugs yet. When I kicked them out, he took off."

"I thought there would be more leavers in there. I thought there would be a lot more action. When David got to the front fairly easy, I felt like the first quarter was slow enough that if I let him keep cutting it out, we would have no shot. But at the same time, I think David might even have been waiting to get his horse covered up," Brett Miller said. "Really, a half in 55 4/5 for those colts, that's not anything crazy. We just turned it into a sprint, and he just out-sprinted me. Most of the time when you come home in 26 seconds on a track that's not super fast, that's enough to do it. But Perfect Sting was pretty vicious today."

Bred and owned by George Segal's Brittany Farms and Marty Granoff's Val D'Or Farms, Perfect Sting boosted his 2021 earnings to $1,273,847 and career total to $1,808,147 with the victory.

"The horse always performs; he just put it all together today," said Segal, whose Brittany Farms leads all owners in Crown history with 21 trophies.

With the victory, Perfect Sting received an invitation to the upcoming TVG final against older horses in late November at the Meadowlands.

--press release (Breeders Crown)--