Harness: Bettor's Wish completing double duty and near a return to racing

While much of this industry has at least been partially idle since all racetracks shut down in March, one athlete has been working double-time in harness racing’s version of "multi-tasking." Bettor's Wish has already been bred to 45 mares this season and hopes to complete his 60 booking assignment before returning to racing. The 4-year-old's primary assignment, however, is to prepare for the return of stakes competition and a potential assault on the Open pacing division.

"I couldn’t be happier with the way he's handled everything," said Chris Ryder, his trainer and co-owner. "He's breeding mares four days-a-week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. We'll jog him or train him early and then he’ll go off to breed between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m."

The schedule has gone smoothly and Ryder notes that although the owners were initially reluctant to ship semen, they have in fact sent to mares in Kentucky and the results have been great. "There was a delay in one of the shipments to Kentucky but the mare got in foal anyway," said Ryder.

On the training side, Bettor's Wish is right on schedule, with Ryder suggesting he's three weeks away from an actual race, but could qualify sooner if need be. "I’ve gone in (1:)55 with him and he’s more of a man now than he was at 2 or 3," Ryder said. On the other hand, Ryder suggests that breeding a horse with the regularity they have Bettor's Wish this season, sometimes has an impact and makes them unruly when in the racing barn. "He’s been a perfect gentleman," Ryder said.

Looking ahead, Bettor's Wish may get the chance to open his 4-year-old campaign at Tioga Downs, where a leg of the Graduate Series is currently scheduled to go on June 14. The track recently got permission from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to reopen in June.

While there are no current talks in place for Bettor's Wish to be syndicated, Ryder is hopeful that a more dominant 4-year-old season could vault the son of Bettor's Delight into national prominence. Certainly with the 3-year-old stakes season likely put through many adjustments in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, breeders may look towards Bettor's Wish more favorably while trying to sort out whether the sophomores racing can prove dominance over one another.

Ryder, like most New Jersey-based horsemen, is anxious to get back to racing at The Meadowlands and awaits word from Governor Phil Murphy that would green-light the proposal. With New York and Delaware tracks given commitments earlier this week to reopen, it is his hope that the Garden State won't be far behind.

Once New Jersey begins qualifiers, Ryder is excited to see how a 3-year-old filly that was unraced last year due to a broken bone will come back. "I really like this filly by Captaintreacherous," Ryder said. Her name is Party Girl Hill and she's a homebred of Tom Hill from a near $200K-winning mare named Look Cheap. That makes her a half-sister to the Blossom Series final-winning Heavenly Hill.

"She'll be ready to qualify as soon as we can," said Ryder of Party Girl Hill. "She's eligible to the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes."