Some 1,900 yearling trotters each year are paid into the Hambletonian for a reason. Perhaps the most prestigious race in the sport, winning the Hambletonian brings a $500,000 payday, instant notoriety and a likely stallion deal for any successful colt. While the difficulty level of winning the Hambletonian doesn't quite match the Lottery or Powerball, unlike those games of chance where luck is the predominant factor, skill is very much at play in finding and developing a champion. It should come as no surprise that 46 percent of the 95 Hambletonians have been won by the same 12 trainers. The late Bill Haughton, Stanley Dancer and Ben White all share the top spot with five wins. They are followed by the still-active Chuck Sylvester and semi-retired Jimmy Takter, both with four victories. For Takter, who won with Malabar Man (1997), Muscle Massive (2010), Trixton (2014) and Pinkman (2015), the journey from yearling to the first Saturday in August when the Hambletonian is contested is a bit of a guessing game at times. "You don't know who is going to be a Hambletonian horse, but when you start feeling it, you have to aim for the race. Timing is everything," said Takter, who no longer trains but still assists his daughter Nancy Takter and with the Antonacci family horses trained by Domenico Cecere. A Hall of Famer and the second-leading money-winning trainer in history behind Ron Burke, Jimmy Takter freely admits that he never started on the road to the Hambletonian in any year with a set plan. Of course, each horse has different needs, and it was his job to decipher the correct path. "It was always by feeling. A gifted trainer feels when they are supposed to push or not push," said Takter. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Takter could be seen on the track warming up some of Nancy's horses on Saturday (July 31), including Hambletonian contenders Really Fast and Spy Booth. While Really Fast is considered one of the favorites and Spy Booth a big longshot, ironically Takter felt that the latter's path was much more desirable in terms of reaching the Hambletonian. "Really Fast has had a bumpy road," said Takter. "He raced well in his last start, qualified good before that but had a couple of bad starts. That's not the way I want the Hambletonian to come to me. I want things to line up coming into the race and not have to chase it, if you know what I'm saying. If you are chasing it, most of the time it doesn't work. "Spy Booth made the final. He's never been in this kind of speed. I'm not going to say he will win the Hambletonian, but he's coming into this right, and he might peak and get a check in the final because the race came to him." That's not to say Really Fast can't win the Hambletonian because everything didn't go smoothly. It is the mark of a great trainer to overcome the adversity and keep their horse on the path to success. Case in point is 2010 Hambletonian winner Muscle Massive. The highest-priced yearling of 2008 at $425,000, he didn't exactly light the world on fire as a 2-year-old, winning just $25,527 in six starts. Things went much better as a 3-year-old under the care of Takter, but Muscle Massive always seemed to take a step backwards every time he took one forward. He won the New Jersey Sire Stakes final ahead of losing the Dickerson to Holiday Road. He then won the Dancer Memorial two weeks before losing his Hambletonian elimination to Pilgrims Taj as the 2-5 favorite. Perhaps stung from the losses, bettors let the son of Muscles Yankee go off at 6-1 and watched him win. "It was working with Ronnie Pierce; he did a fantastic job," said Takter, placing much of the credit with the driver for nurturing him along. "He knew what it took to win the race and get the horse to peak at the right time. Really Muscle Massive was just an average horse that won the Hambletonian." Many building blocks have to fall in place for a horse to peak in the Hambletonian. In addition to possessing the natural attributes of speed and heart, a trainer must balance the amount of conditioning the horse gets approaching the big race. "You don't want to have too many starts in them and not too few either. But today it is much different because they come to speed much faster," said Takter. "I think you have to be very cautious. You see how these 2-year-olds go today. It is a long way to the Breeders Crown. I won 34 of them, and it is tough to keep them happy and fresh until late October. This year it seems crazier than ever." Fortunately for Takter, he no longer has to deal with the daily stress involved with being the listed trainer. He still dons his colors to warm-up or drive the occasional young horse, but while the daily grind is mostly behind him, that doesn't mean he is getting much rest. "I've been quite busy," said Takter. "I do volunteer work with the Thoroughbreds. I have 17 of them, and that excites me a lot. We are starting to get ready to race some 2-year-olds, and they are looking great. Then I help with [Frank] Antonacci's trotters and Nancy's horses. I take a day here and there for myself with my wife. Actually, it's been a little bit busier than I like it this summer. They had a tough winter up here, and things weren't in the right order." If a Takter is to win the Hambletonian in 2021 it will be Nancy, who has three in the race as she seeks her first victory. She is joined by Julie Miller, Marie Ortolan-Bar and Marcus Melander as trainers seeking their first-ever win in the $1,000,000 event. Jim Campbell and Ake Svanstedt are both looking to become two-time winners, and the 95-year history is on their side in terms of experience, but the last five Hambletonians have been won by a trainer with no previous wins. Which horse will peak on Hambletonian Day this year will remain unknown until just past 6:12 P.M. on Saturday (August 7) at the Meadowlands. The 96th champion will then be crowned and hopefully the memories of a great race will remain in our minds for a lifetime.