The 100th Hambletonian is less than five months away, and there is a strong possibility that a pair of brother-in-laws which have been favored to win harness racing's most cherished prize in the recent past could hold the keys to deciding this year's classic. At the top of the list, of course, is the 2024 2-year-old champion Maryland, trained by Marcus Melander. His brother-in-law Lucas Wallin's Maximus Mearas S opened eyes at the close of the 2-year-old campaign with a win in his Breeders Crown elimination and then almost tracked down Maryland in the Crown final, falling just a neck shy in the 1:51 4/5 mile last October. "We train over the same track," said Wallin about the connection. "I see Maryland training, but I'm focused on my horses." As for Maximus Mearas S, Wallin is extremely focused, and though serious training has not yet begun for the sophomore campaign, the trainer does have a game plan that he's going to follow. "We're likely to qualify him a couple of times and then go in the Reynolds, the Stanley Dancer and then the Hambletonian," Wallin said. "We won't go to the New York Sire Stakes." Three years ago, Wallin was in a similar position with Rebuff, the 2021 Breeders Crown champion who would be favored in the Hambletonian final the next season. "There's just something different about this horse," Wallin said of Maximus Mearas S. "He's got the same gait, no wasted motion whether he's trotting in 2:30 or 1:51. You can do whatever you want with him." While it's way too early to predict how the races will unfold in 2025, Wallin is more than delighted with the look and feel of the royally-bred son of Chapter Seven. "He's gotten bigger and filled out nicely," said Wallin. Maryland earned nearly $1 million more than Maximus Mearas S last year and did a lot more traveling along the way. There was a much different arc for Wallin's colt as he started later in the season, prepped in overnight races and then had a brief stint on the Grand Circuit at The Red Mile before closing out his season with the Breeders Crown. For the trainer who had previously pushed his freshmen earlier in the year, the results speak for themselves with four wins and two seconds in the half-dozen starts and a final performance of the year that was his best of the six. Maryland and Maximus Mearas S are both sons of Chapter Seven and will be looking to give the great sire his second Hambletonian title, with Cool Papa Bell upsetting Wallin's Rebuff in the 2022 edition. "Up until now we've just been training distances for conditioning," said Wallin. "We'll pick up the speed as we get closer to the races." While everything appears to be in place for Wallin's top Hambletonian prospect, the same cannot be said for a stablemate that showed enormous talent when Wallin unveiled him late last August. The Rogue Prince, a full brother to King Of The North, made an awesome debut while trotting home in 27 1/5 to complete a 1:54 3/5 mile at Harrah's Philadelphia on August 30 last year. He rolled into Lexington's Red Mile and captured another overnight by 10 lengths, setting him up for a Grand Circuit appearance. Sent off as the 1-2 favorite in a division of the Bluegrass at The Red Mile on September 26, The Rogue Prince appeared ready to meet and beat the best. "I thought he was going to beat Burke's good horse," said Wallin. "But he got a bit too racy and lost it." ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter The break in stride was an indicator of the difficulty trotting trainers battle with daily. Despite all the work to develop these horses in training, sometimes they lose their composure in a race and it's back to the drawing board. "I probably should have stopped with him at that point and not come back for the second week," said Wallin, who witnessed The Rogue Prince set blistering fractions the following week only to fade in the stretch. "He's got a tremendous amount of speed," said Wallin of The Rogue Prince. "We're going to educate him and teach him to come from off-the-pace." The trainer is confident that with a year under his belt The Rogue Prince will not only be more physically mature but mentally capable of learning what it takes to be not just a fast horse but a successful one. On the filly front, Wallin is prepping Delaney Hanover for a return with an eye on the top prize of the Hambletonian Oaks. The well-bred daughter of Muscle Hill had championship potential when she first set foot on the track at the Meadowlands, winning a Kindergarten division on August 2. Delaney Hanover would win an elimination for the New Jersey Classic in late August and then finish a solid second in the final. "I probably shouldn't have sent her to Indiana [for the Doherty Memorial]," Wallin said. "The long ship took something out of her and we could never find the problem." Delaney Hanover raced well enough to qualify for the Breeders Crown finale but finished the year on a low note. Now 3, Delaney Hanover has returned to training, and Wallin is quite high on her potential this year. There is clearly an enormous amount of trotting power in the sophomore ranks, and Wallin is hard at work preparing for the coming stakes campaign. That said, much of his stable is younger stock, with 15 freshmen moving along at the proper pace. "I've been in 2:35 and they are all coming along nicely," said Wallin of the collective group that has some incredibly well-bred colts and fillies. Just two horses over the age of 3 are currently in training for Wallin, with the well-bred For July, a 4-year-old, one that he hopes finally comes of age. "I'm hoping with him the extra year will make the difference," Wallin said of the Greenshoe-sired half-brother to Cuatro De Julio, the colt he drove in the 2021 Hambletonian. For July did win in 1:52 as a sophomore, but that came in a Kentucky Commonwealth division at The Red Mile. Knickers Sisu is the lone 5-year-old in the group, and the Swedish-bred daughter of Southwind Frank could be up to competing in the Miss Versatility this year. "She's a solid mare that can go on any-sized track," Wallin said. With a pair of serious contenders, will 2025 be the year that Lucas Wallin or his brother-in-law Marcus Melander win their first Hambletonian? We'll know for sure in just five short months.