Harness: Horse of the Year on the line in Breeders Crown championships

Following 19 elimination races, the stage is now set for the $6.78 million Breeders Crown championships scheduled for Friday (6:20 P.M.) and Saturday (12:00 P.M.) at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Four 2-year-old finals with purses of $600,000 will highlight the Friday program, while a quartet of finals for 3-year-olds and older Standardbreds will wrap up the marquee event.

With three of the top-five ranked horses in the sport suffering losses in the elimination round, the picture for Horse of the Year got a bit blurry last weekend. Top contenders Lyons Sentinel, Test Of Faith, Allywag Hanover and Jujubee will attempt to bring things into focus and secure their stature in the rankings as stakes season winds down over the next month.

Lyons Sentinel has been atop the weekly Hambletonian Society/Breeders crown industry poll for months and maintained her spot despite a third-place finish in her elimination last Saturday. The Jim King Jr.-trained and Tim Tetrick-driven 4-year-old pacing mare had won seven straight prior to the defeat and owns nine wins from 16 starts this year.

"She was just in a bad spot. I left out of there into a pretty good spot in fifth where I could be second-over, but they went a slow second quarter and I had to come early into a 26 and change third quarter," said Tetrick of his elimination trip with Lyons Sentinel. "I thought she raced well. At the wire she was pacing hard."

Lyons Sentinel starts from post three as the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the $330,000 Open Mare Pace (race nine, Saturday) and will face her major competition from elimination winner Rocknificent, who drew post one for trainer Linda Toscano and regular driver Scott Zeron.

"It is going to come down to her and [Brett] Pelling's [trainer] horse Allywag Hanover, I believe," said Tetrick on the possibility of Lyons Sentinel getting Horse of the Year. "His horse has been vicious, but she's been exceptional herself. The other day she got beat, but she still finished third and got beat by horses that had the post edge on her and did no work."

Another lady attempting to win the highest equine award in the sport is Test Of Faith in the $600,000 final for 3-year-old pacing fillies (race four). Sent out by trainer Brett Pelling, Test Of Faith accepted a bye into the final. The daughter of Art Major has compiled an impressive 14-12-2-0 record in 2021 and would go over the million-dollar mark in earnings with a victory on Saturday.

"She's a champion. She's won 20 of 23 career races and not one of the losses was really her fault," said Pelling, who specifically mentioned the Jugette defeat as being disappointing and more a matter of circumstance than performance. "She's flashy, has high speed and has basically been dominant. I don't see why she wouldn't be in the Horse of the Year conversation. Lyons Sentinel's win/loss record is not nearly the same as hers, and I think at the end of the year when you stack the records up side-by-side, those are things voters look at."

David Miller will drive Test Of Faith from post eight versus a strong field that includes elimination winner Grace Hill (post five), Blue Diamond Eyes (post seven), who owns the fastest time (1:47 2/5) of any in the division this year, and Fan Hanover winner Fire Start Hanover (post nine).

"To me it is a four-horse race and all four will be leaving, so none of them should be compromised by the draw. I'm not sure where they will all finish, but it should be an honest race won on their merits," said Pelling, who added that his filly is ready. "She's awfully sharp right now. She recovers really well and has impeccable manners."

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Pelling also has Allywag Hanover on the exclusive Horse of the Year list. The 4-year-old son of Captaintreacherous rides a five-race winning streak into the $600,000 Breeders Crown Open Pace (race 11). In a "what have you done for me lately world," another win, combined with a strong showing in the TVG final in November over the same surface, could cement his place atop the minds of voters.

"Free-for-all horses tend to capture people's attention, and he's the most exciting right now. He also does himself a favor by being a good-looking black horse with a long mane, and while he's not a big horse, he paces like a big horse with big power," said Pelling.

The fastest horse of 2021 via his 1:46 4/5 Allerage win at The Red Mile on October 10, Allywag Hanover has nine wins in 16 starts this year, but his year started a bit slowly. He finished off-the-board in his first three starts of the year and could only pick up one win from five early-season Graduate starts in the series exclusively for 4-year-olds.

"I actually thought his Graduate races were unreal. Those were a serious group of horses where one of them was pacing in 1:47 every week. Ruthless Hanover and Cattlewash won in 1:47 [and change], and a bunch of others like Warrawee Vital and Captain Barbossa lost in that time," said Pelling.

Todd McCarthy now drives Allywag Hanover, but Pelling's theory is that other drivers helped the horse reach his current heights by driving him hard knowing that they wouldn't be in the bike the following week.

"I think the musical chairs of drivers helped my horse. They taught the horse to leave hard. [Tim] Tetrick and [David] Miller really laced him out of there a couple of times. He was never a leaver before that but now he can leave as fast as any horse I've ever had," said Pelling. "Allywag was playing catch-up as a 2- and 3-year-old and was always closing hard at the end of the mile. That probably saved his career. If he was busting out of the gate back then, we probably wouldn't be seeing him do this now."

McCarthy, who got the week off since Allywag Hanover took a bye into the final, will leave from post eight on Saturday and have to deal with elimination winner This Is The Plan and early speedsters Cattlewash, Nicholas Beach, and Ocean Rock to his inside.

Similar to Lyons Sentinel, Jujubee entered last week's eliminations with a long winning streak and saw it snapped. The son of Creatine will try to get his name into the Horse of the Year equation and improve his yearly record to 14 wins in 18 starts with a victory in the $650,000 Crown final for 3-year-old male trotters.

"He's definitely worthy of Horse of the Year," said driver Andrew McCarthy. "What he's done this season has been terrific, winning the Kentucky Futurity and trotting two sub 1:50 miles. He should definitely be in the running."

While Jujubee rallied nicely in his elimination off cover, Cuatro De Julio was a neck faster at the wire. These two will hook up again in the eighth race on Saturday, with Jujubee installed as the 2-1 morning-line choice from post six and Cuatro De Julio starting from the four-hole at 9-2 with Lucas Wallin driving.

"He had a quicker gear late," said McCarthy about Cuatro De Julio in the elimination. "I think Jujubee will hopefully be a lot better in the final. To me it felt like he struggled over the track a little and had a hard time changing gears. I'm sure Greg [Wright Jr.] will address the issue and he'll be a lot better this week."

The track during elimination weekend was clearly playing a bit slow and affected some horses more than others.

"It was probably a little deep," said McCarthy, a sentiment echoed by other horsepeople who competed. "Ryan [Napierala, Director of Racing properties at the Meadowlands] did a great job, but every track changes. Some horses had a tough time and others didn't."

Napierala will have to deal with new challenges this weekend as heavy rain fell in the New Jersey area on Tuesday and more is forecasted for the finals on Friday and Saturday.

The pair of 13-race cards this weekend at the Meadowlands will not only offer elite horsepower to those watching but also many wagering opportunities. The track will have two 15 percent takeout $50,000 guaranteed Pick 4's (races 6-9 and 10-13) both Friday and Saturday, as well as eight other reduced takeout wagers.