Meadowlands: Accomplished Niki Hill looks for another accolade in Kindergarten

Of the dozen Breeders Crown-winning performances at the Meadowlands two weeks ago, the effort of the 2-year-old pacing filly Niki Hill sticks out distinctly as the finest. The daughter of Always B Miki appeared to have no issues whatsoever with the sloppy track surface as she blazed to victory in a stunning 1:51 clocking, leaving a solid group of rivals struggling to keep up in the stretch. The first-year phenom has two more races on her schedule this year before she is shut down, and trainer Chris Ryder is happy with her conditioning heading into Saturday's $220,110 Kindergarten Classic final at the Meadowlands.

"I gave her a week off after the Breeders Crown," said Ryder from Harrisburg, where he is in search of next year's elite freshman. "I trained her back on Saturday [November 6], and she was super."

Ryder's decision to continue racing Niki Hill twice more could put the filly in the hunt for Horse of the Year honors given that she's won all but one start this season and looked awesome in most of her key victories that include the She's A Great Lady and Red Mile Grand Circuit.

Niki Hill will have the services again of her regular pilot Dexter Dunn despite the driver being involved in an accident at Harrah's Philadelphia last Sunday.

"He's going to drive in stakes races only," said Ryder. "He's a bit dinged up."

Niki Hill drew post two in a field of 10 fillies on Saturday. Her event goes as race nine and is one of four finals of the Kindergarten Classic on the Meadowlands program. She'll face a solid group that may not be up to the level of the Breeders Crown but is still quite formidable considering the lateness of the stakes season. Treacherous Dragon (post three) finished a distant third in the Breeders Crown, but the Captaintreacherous-sired filly bounced back quite nicely in last week's final Kindergarten preliminary leg at the Meadowlands with a 1:52 win. Her driver Tim Tetrick indicated that the filly was just playing with her rivals in the late stages, but she'll need to have her game face on if she expects to upset Niki Hill this week.

Trainer Tony Alagna was lucky enough to qualify four horses for this Kindergarten Classic final, but his luck ran out when the draw was contested as all four drew posts seven through 10. Dont Fence Me In (post nine) is the richest and fastest of the Alagna arsenal, having banked over $287K in 11 starts this year. She scored in 1:50 2/5 in capturing the Kentucky Championship Series final at The Red Mile.

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Trainer Brett Pelling believes that Hammering Hank is set for a big effort in the $238,700 Kindergarten Classic final for juvenile pacing colts and gelding carded as race 11.

"I raced him in the last leg just to make sure he drew inside post six for the final," said Pelling. "I think he has the kind of speed that he can make up four or five lengths in the stretch pretty easily."

Hammering Hank (post three) enters the final with seven wins in nine starts this year, with his only two defeats coming in the Breeders Crown elimination and final.

"That was a tough trip in the final. We thought there would be four or five horses leaving and there would be a fast pace," said Pelling. "He raced great but just had no chance."

Hammering Hank set a personal-best of 1:51 2/5 in last week's Kindergarten score, sweeping from sixth to first in the homestretch. Despite his confidence in his horse, Pelling noted that he's concerned about one horse in the field primarily.

"Early Action is a very nice horse," said Pelling. "He put in a serious performance in the Breeders Crown as well."

Early Action, trained by Joe Holloway, has seven wins in 11 starts this year and finished fifth in the final after getting away last in the field of 10.

"He's definitely the best Huntsville I've seen," said Pelling of Early Action.

JD (post nine) joins Hammering Hank and Early Action as the lone six-figure earners in the field. JD's victory in the New York Sire Stakes final got him over that mark for trainer Ray Schnittker.

Saturday's 13-race Meadowlands card also includes the $294,580 Kindergarten Classic final for 2-year-old trotting fillies and the $300,960 final for 2-year-old trotting colts and geldings. First post on Saturday is listed at 6:20 p.m.