Harness: Tactical Approach's road to a Hambletonian championship

I must admit, after witnessing Tactical Approach cross the wire first in Saturday's (August 5) $1 million Hambletonian the first thought that crossed my mind was, 'how did he (Scott Zeron) do it?'

It wasn't that Zeron was capturing his third Hambletonian in the process that hit me first, but it was the way he guided the Nancy Takter-trained New Jersey-sired horse through the mile where, realistically, the fractions dictated no horse could come from the back of the pack and defeat those in the first tier.

For the first half of the race, it appeared as if my pre-race prediction of trainer Ron Burke's pair getting involved early and controlling a soft half went exactly to plan as Yannick Gingras held the lead with Celebrity Bambino in the second-slowest half of the Hambletonian Day card. The dawdling 56-second clocking was shocking in that Gingras had also cut the pace in the $500,000 Hambletonian Oaks and reached the half there in 53 2/5 with Railee Something. The only slower first-half clocking prior to the Hambletonian came in the $240,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes for freshman trotting colts and geldings, with race winner Sig Sauer reaching the halfway point in just 56 3/5, respectable for that class.

Having spoken to Scott Zeron earlier in the afternoon, there was at least a hint in his language that, despite drawing post 10, he didn't feel as if his horse was out of contention for the seven-figure contest. Scott questioned the overall quality of the field, suggesting that there was in fact no dominant horse or horses as perhaps there had been in years past such as when he guided Atlanta for his father Rick to victory in the 2018 edition of the sport's most classic race.

While little was going on in a well-measured first half for Celebrity Bambino, with Yannick Gingras getting the point without overworking his horse, Zeron had made some tactical moves of his own that seemed quite implausible. Perhaps his most significant move in the entire race took place shortly after the quarter had been passed. Seeing that Andy Miller and French Wine may have been what is referred to in the business as half-in-half-out, Zeron made Miller's decision more definite by filling the vacancy along the pylons, giving Miller no options but to seek an outer tier flow.

It was a subtle move and though Zeron later deflected that he was "under-driving" Tactical Approach, it was this very move that paved the way for what would come in the next half-mile and how Tactical Approach would find the necessary position to make just one straight-line move along the pylons to victory.

The third quarter of the Hambletonian was a study in the basic differences between qualifying or elimination races and finals. For Celebrity Bambino and Oh Well the change in driving dynamics revealed something about each horse that didn't seem to exist just seven days earlier when Celebrity Bambino would romp and Oh Well would struggle to finish second while racing in the same uncovered position.

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The difference between the elimination and the final was the intensity in the third quarter action. As a few drivers revealed to me in response to the Hambletonian eliminations, suggesting they were more like "qualifiers than actual races," Saturday's $1 million final third quarter sprint saw Oh Well all-out to go by the leader for Tetrick, with Gingras's charge less responsive under duress than he had been while coasting unthreatened a week earlier. The 27 1/5 third quarter was just too much for Celebrity Bambino, and Oh Well took the lead under encouragement while seeming to have things safely to his advantage.

Driver-trainer Ake Svanstedt looked to be a winner with Bond in the Hambletonian Oaks just two races prior before being swept away by Tetrick and Heaven Hanover in the final strides. Svanstedt seemed eager to return the favor with Up Your Deo when he edged off the pylons on the final turn and got into the cover draft third-over behind Oh Well and Winner's Bet. When Svanstedt sent the MGM Yonkers Trot champion wide in early stretch he seemed to have the momentum in his favor. Little could Svanstedt know or suspect that the position he vacated along the pylons proved to be the exact spot that Zeron would inherit with Tactical Approach. While Svanstedt wheeled Up Your Deo wide and traveled extra ground while under a drive most of the final quarter, Zeron calmly guided Tactical Approach to the inside and didn't have to lay a glove on him until the final eighth. Perhaps had Svanstedt stayed inside his fate and that of Up Your Deo's would be different, but how could he take the chance to stay inside when the gap existed and the opportunity to win a $1 million race revealed itself?

Oh Well fought off Up Your Deo bravely for Tetrick but was powerless to stall Tactical Approach, who, despite starting from post 10, spent more time along the pylons than any of the horses in the Hambletonian.

Give credit where it is due to Nancy Takter and her team for having Tactical Approach at his best going into the race. Without that edge, nothing Zeron could have come up with would have mattered. Perhaps more interesting was the 12-1 price for victory that suggested a few things. First, that there were many believers that driver Scott Zeron would come up big in yet another big race. Earlier in the afternoon he had guided the Tactical Landing-sired filly Tactical Mounds to a 23-1 shocker in the Continentalvictory from the very same post 10. Secondly, Nancy Takter's horses have consistently showed up at the entire Meadowlands meeting, and that had to be factored in the equation. Despite Nancy not having won the race before, her Hall of Fame father Jimmy had captured the Hambletonian on four occasions. Jimmy trained and drove Tactical Approach's sire Tactical Landing to an elimination win in the 2018 Hambletonian and a third-place finish, just getting nipped for second, in the final won by Atlanta.

Tactical Landing is a full brother to Mission Brief, the great filly that finished second for trainer Ron Burke in the 2015 Hambletonian behind the Jimmy Takter-trained upsetter Pinkman. Tactical Landing is a son of Muscle Hill, the 2009 champion that has had a profound influence on the breed through his sons and daughters.

Tactical Approach's success must also be credited to his dam's side since he's just the third foal from Sarcy, a daughter of Donato Hanover that produced the multiple stakes winner sophomore from 2022 in Double Deceiver, by Cantab Hall. It also should be noted that Jimmy Takter trained Sarcy as well, and she finished fifth in her final career start in the 2015 Hambletonian Oaks. Sarcy is a daughter of Southwind Allaire, the 2003 Hambletonian Oaks champion also trained by Jimmy Takter.