Harness: Let It Ride looms large in the Open pacing landscape

Perhaps one of the best aspects of this sport is how things change from year to year. In 2021 there will be a brand new older pacing division that may have some familiar faces but likely will provide a much different look than 2020's edition.

Gone from the landscape is the brilliant Bettor's Wish. Not added to the division are the retired Horse of the Year Tall Dark Stranger or the ill-fated Papi Rob Hanover, both spending the rest of their active careers at Hanover Shoe Farms. With the Borgata (nee Levy) Pacing Series nominations deadline of February 15 behind us, racing fans will get a chance shortly to see what looks different in 2021 in just four short weeks.

When the dust settled in November following the TVG Finals at the Meadowlands, there was a sense who the players would become in March at Yonkers, but there was a seismic shift to the landscape in the months that followed, as New Zealand-bred Let It Ride, an imported son of Rock N Roll Heaven, started making the rounds. His trainer Richard "Nifty" Norman didn't know what to expect at first.

"He was a top-class horse but had a pretty rough last two years," said Norman. "We knew he was bleeding, but you never know what the difference will be with Lasix."

Let It Ride has been good from the start since arriving in North America.

"I was hoping to have a good non-winners $15,000 to non-winners of $20,000 type," said Norman.

Well, that's where Let It Ride would start out, but by the end of 2020 he was making a beeline towards Open company. A 1:48 1/5 off-the-pace win at the Meadowlands in January is extraordinary to say the least, but Norman has been around too long to get excited about final times.

"They do an absolutely great job with the track surface at the Meadowlands," said Norman. "It doesn't seem to matter whether we're in the middle of winter or the summer with the kind of miles we're seeing."

With a late November start to his North American campaign, Let It Ride won all four races in the month, covering Harrah's Philadelphia, Dover Downs, and the Meadowlands in his progression up the class ladder, and each time exhibiting a vicious closing kick at the end of rather quick miles. While Norman refuses to take much, if any, of the credit for simply adding Lasix and letting Let It Ride do the rest, the trainer still needs to send a sound horse to the races.

"His feet were a bit sore, but we worked on that, and he's better now," said Norman.

Let It Ride caught the attention of many owners looking to add quality to their collection, and Norman was able to strike a deal with William Hartt.

"It was a deal I had to make," said Norman of the sale that gave 80 percent of the ownership to Hartt.

It's the first horse Norman will train for Hartt, but the partnership is likely much of the reason Norman can now view 2021's racing season entirely differently than he might have.

"We've staked him to everything this year," Norman said on Monday (2/15), clearly suggesting that Hartt's entry paved the way for a potentially epic campaign.

Following a brilliant 1:48 1/5 win on January 2 at the Meadowlands, Norman needed to find out a bit more about his exiting protégé.

"He had never raced on a half-mile track," said Norman, checking back on the history of the horse Down Under. "I knew if we wanted to nominate him for the Borgata, we'd have to try him."

The test flight took place on January 11 at Yonkers, and needless to say, Let It Ride passed with flying colors. Having been assigned post eight, driver Dexter Dunn was forced to navigate the four turns that guaranteed he'd be spending much time in the two-path. While able to get away sixth, Let It Ride was not advancing while the half-mile clocking was a tepid 56 3/5. While the pace accelerated some on the backstretch, Dunn simply allowed Let It Ride to race behind cover, a strategy that would likely doom most horses at Yonkers. Let It Ride proved to be unlike most, though, as he rallied late in the short stretch at Yonkers, posting a 26 4/5 final quarter at the end of a 1:52 1/5 mile.

With the Yonkers win Norman was confident he could move forward, and at the same time mapped out plans for the rest of the season.

"He's doing fine now," said Norman. "I'm going to race him in the first leg of the Borgata (March 15). I won't race him before that."

With a long plan towards the major stakes, Norman is pulling from his experience and hoping to capitalize in the short term while not risking future success.

"It's a very tricky series," Norman said of the Borgata. "It's generally all about getting into the final. I just don't want to make the mistake of over-racing him."

What concerns Norman is the potential to have too many demanding starts in the preliminaries just to reach the final. He knows the perils of a couple of outside draws and what they can take out of a horse, especially if a win is needed to qualify for the final.

"Right now, I'm happy the way he's been raced since arriving," said Norman. "A lot of people, when they bring over these horses, I believe make a mistake and put them on the front-end immediately. They are not used to that type of early speed."

It's a cautionary tale that Norman understands, and it's much of the reason we have only seen Let it Ride race from off- the-pace in all of his North American starts.

What's interesting, of course, is what eventually will happen once horses with this type of resume are put on the front-end. It's likely that over the course of the series at Yonkers we're going to see if Let It Ride is just as vicious leading a field as he is in devouring them from off-the-pace. More importantly, going down the road this stakes season, if he's to compete and win at the highest level, he's likely going to have to race four quarters at top speed.

Looking ahead, Norman at least likes the optics of a horse that won't be in the group.

"With Chris's (Ryder, Bettor's Wish) horse retired, I think it opens it up a bit," said Norman.

What is yet unknown is how many of last year's 3-year-olds will be able to join this group, with horses like No Lou Zing, Cattlewash, and Breeders Crown champion Sandbetweenmytoes facing older foes for the first time.

For all racing fans it's exciting to see what new faces will add to the weekly drama to the Open pacing class of 2021.