As 21 horses go behind the gate in three divisions of the Hambletonian with dreams of winning the most prestigious prize in North American Standardbred racing, victory is up for grabs, even for those horses that perhaps seem like outsiders. You see, there is no single factor which guarantees success in the Hambletonian and winners seemingly come from everywhere. While in many cases history can be your guide, when it comes to the last quarter-century of winners in the 3-year-old trotting classic, there really are no clear indicators of success when it comes to origin stories.  The most common themes revolve around sale location and just being sold in general. Every Hambletonian winner in the last 25 years, except Royalty For Life, was sold at public auction. So, for those who feel like breeders sometimes keep the best yearlings for themselves, clearly that is not the case. The other near certainty is that the winner is going to come from the Lexington Selected Sale or Standardbred Horse Sale in Harrisburg. Fourteen horses were sold at Lexington and 10 at Harrisburg. After that, the similarities drop off dramatically, unless you want to focus on price. The average yearling sale price for the eventual Hambletonian winner two years later is $88,167 over the last 25 years. If you pare that down to just the last five years, the cost of winning has gone up, but not substantially, to $108,000. Those numbers give almost anyone (or at least any group of owners) hope that they can show up at Lexington or Harrisburg and walk away with a future champion. There are of course anomalies in the pricing scale. Trixton (2014 Hambletonian winner) cost $360,000 and Muscle Massive was a $425,000 (2010) yearling. Both of those horses would go for well north of those figures in today's numbers. The lowest-costing Hambletonian winner since 2000 was Glidemaster (2006) at just $10,000, though it is highly unlikely you'll be able to find such a cheap trotting champion in the current environment. In the last 10 years only one Hambletonian winner has sold for under $60,000, and that was Marion Marauder at $37,000, a far cry from $10,000. Looking at the entrants for 2025, six of the 21 did not sell at public auction, and the pricing range of those that did is $17,000 to $600,000. The likelihood that we are going to see a high-priced yearling in the Hambletonian winner's circle at the Meadowlands on August 2 is high considering that the average sale price of the elimination participants is $222,466. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter There are some names that have been constants over the last 10 years. Someone with the last name Takter (Nancy two; Jimmy three) has trained three of the last 10 winners and five of the previous 25. Driver Scott Zeron has won three of the last nine Hambletonians for three different trainers, which is a feat in itself. Brian Sears is the only other driver to pull off that feat in the last 25 years. Ake Svanstedt, who has horses in all three divisions (he is driving just one), is the only person in this year's Hambletonian with a chance to join the three-win club as both a driver and trainer. Who is the most prolific breeder since the turn of the century? Steve Stewart leads the way with three winners to his credit, followed by Crawford Farms, who has won two of the last five, and is joined by Hanover Shoe Farms and Winbak Farm with a pair of wins. Incidentally, Hanover Shoe Farms holds the all-time record for breeding Hambletonian winners at 11, and that is unlikely to ever be broken since the closest active breeder to them is Stewart at three. He can narrow the margin since he bred two – Monserrate and Grande Via – of this year's group of 21. However, Hanover has a trio in Meshuggah, Super Chapter and Maryland, two of which are considered top five contenders for the final. Hambletonian winners in this century also come from various regions in North America. Just in the last 10 years we've seen stallions standing in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Ontario, and breeders have come from many more locations including Kentucky, Indiana and other states. The bottom line is that while some of the 21 Hambletonian elimination entrants have a better chance of being crowned the 100th champion in the long history of the race, as of elimination morning it's anyone's trophy. May the best 3-year-old trotter win! Hambletonian road begins as a yearling By now everyone knows that filly Yo Tillie, perhaps the best 3-year-old trotter right now, can't participate in the Hambletonian Oaks because she isn't eligible. Unlike some races, the Hambletonian and Oaks do not allow for late supplements to the race. Maybe enough time has passed that the rule needs to change. One of the connections of Yo Tillie mentioned to me that they would've supplemented to the Hambletonian if it was permitted. That's right, you read correctly, the Hambletonian, not the Oaks. And Yo Tillie isn't the first horse ineligible to the Hambletonian over the last quarter century that was unable to complete. Currently, the journey begins with a yearling payment of $25 on May 15. If that deadline is missed an option exists to supplement on August 15 at the cost of just $125. After that all bets are off. If the breeder of a horse elects to bypass the only two opportunities to make a horse eligible to the Hambletonian then the eventual buyer - at the yearling sale or privately later - is out of luck. At the very least couldn't there be a supplemental payment on March 15 as a 2-year-old so a new buyer could have an opportunity to act or the current owner could make a more informed decision? Currently, the March 15 payment to sustain as a 2-year-old is $500, so how about a $1,500 payment to supplement at that point? Some might balk at that number, but the Hambletonian is the most prestigious race in the sport and making entry easy should be a viable option. Personally, I would take things a step further and allow the connections of ineligible horses the opportunity to pay a hefty sum to enter the Hambletonian. To me the right number is $200,000, which means if you don't finish second in the final you lose money. The price has to be extraordinary, high enough that someone with extra cash to burn isn't going to do it just for the sake of saying they got to see their horse in the race. There is plenty of precedent for supplements as many top stakes offer the option. You can buy into the $300,000 Yonkers Trot - another Triple Crown race - for $25,000. The price to enter the Meadowlands Pace is 20% of all nomination/sustaining fees plus starting fees. In 2025 that cost would be $64,220 to race for about $700,000. So, paying $200,000 to race for a $1,000,000 purse is well above market price for the Hambletonian. But hey, if someone really wants to roll the dice, what's the harm in offering the option?