Harness: Andersen hopes stable keeps rolling

Nicklas Andersen spent more than a half-dozen years working for several of the most recognized names in harness racing before starting his own training stable. Now, the 30-year-old native of Denmark is hoping to make his own name in the sport.

Andersen’s stable, based in central New Jersey, is off to a strong start in its first season of racing and the conditioner is looking forward to a significant weekend as three of his horses will be in stakes action at the Meadowlands and Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania.

On Friday (Sept. 4) at the Big M, Andersen will send out Walnora in the third of three $25,000 eliminations of the New Jersey Classic for 2-year-old female trotters. On Monday (Sept. 7) at Pocono, he will have Ops Mearas S in the $50,000 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes consolation for 2-year-old female trotters and Black Tesla in the $50,000 PASS consolation for 2-year-old male trotters.

Those three freshmen have provided Andersen with five of his six wins this year, with Ops Mearas S leading the way with three. Overall, Andersen’s stable has posted 14 top-three finishes in 22 starts.

“The 2-year-olds have been doing very good,” Andersen said. “It’s been a good start to things, but you’ve got to keep rolling. You have to carry through all the way to the end of the year.”

Ops Mearas S, a daughter of International Moni-Lily Kronos IT bred and owned by Snogarps Gard Inc., gave Andersen his first win in July at Harrah’s Philadelphia.

“I came over here almost eight years ago, and I worked for Åke Svanstedt, Nancy Takter, and Lucas Wallin, but I always had it in my head that I was going to do this on my own one day,” Andersen said. “(Last fall), I felt like I’d seen enough and that it was time to try it on my own. To get that first win with Ops Mearas, a 2-year-old you have shaped from the beginning, it can’t get more special than that. It’s very rewarding.”

Ops Mearas S is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in her PASS consolation on Labor Day. She has hit the board in all five of her races, with a second and a third to go with her three victories. Two of her wins came in the Pennsylvania Stallion Series, including a career-best 1:55 score in early August at Philly. Most recently, on Aug. 27, she finished second behind The Captain’s Wife in a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes division at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows. She will leave from post 2 on Monday, with Andrew McCarthy in the sulky.

“She can leave pretty good, but her best attribute is that she has a big engine,” Andersen said. “She likes rolling at a high tempo. She’s not a horse that you want to try to be cute with and go too slow to the half and sprint home; that’s not good for her. She can go at a high tempo for a long time. She’s going to be a good horse, I think. She’s not fully developed yet, and I think she’s going to be a lot better next year, and even at the end of this year too.”

Ops Mearas S is staked to many of the sport’s top remaining races for 2-year-old filly trotters, including the Jim Doherty Memorial and Breeders Crown (both Grade 1), the Kentuckiana Stallion Management (G2), and the Bluegrass, International Stallion, and Matron stakes (all G3).

“If she does good on Monday, I think we’re going to give her a chance in the Jim Doherty,” Andersen said, referring to the Sept. 18 event at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. “She’s going to be better on a bigger track. She struggles a little in the turns, and she takes a little while to get her speed up, but she can carry it. I think it’s going to be a big plus for her to go on a bigger track.”

Black Tesla, a son of Greenshoe-Fashion Spooner co-bred by owner Wayne Stoltzfus, has a win and a second-place finish in four races this season. He will leave from post 7, with driver Ridge Warren, in his PASS consolation. He is 4-1 on the morning line.

“Tesla is going to be a little handicapped with that post because he can’t leave that much; he’s a little slow off the car,” Andersen said about the colt, who also is eligible to top stakes later this season. “But he’s very, very strong. He can do a lot of work. He keeps going all the way to the wire.”

In Friday’s New Jersey Classic elims at the Meadowlands, Walnora will leave from post 2 with Tim Tetrick in the sulky. The daughter of Walner, out of 2020 Hambletonian Oaks winner Sorella, was purchased for $70,000 at last fall’s Lexington Selected Yearling Sale and is owned by M3 Racing Stable and Matt Franklin.

Slowed by minor issues in the spring and early summer, Walnora has posted a win and a third-place finish in two starts this year. She is 10-1 on the morning line for Friday’s race, which features undefeated 6-5 favorite Wall Of Fame from the stable of Julie Miller.

“She was really talented the whole time, but was struggling a little keeping up physically,” Andersen said about Walnora. “There is no harm in getting a late start with these 2-year-olds. She still has to get a little stronger, but she’s super quick and has good technique. She hasn’t raced in 15 days, so she’s going to go forward with the race.”

Racing begins at 6:20 p.m. (EDT) Friday at the Meadowlands and the card includes the return of Apex for his first start since winning the Hambletonian Stakes on Aug. 8. 

Racing begins at 1 p.m. (EDT) Monday at Pocono Downs.