Meadowlands: Atlanta rewards her connections' faith with Hambletonian success

Atlanta tired on the end of the mile after setting big fractions in her elimination, but she was well-rated to the half in the $1 million final and held sway, becoming just the 14th filly to ever win the race and the first since Continentalvictory in 1996. The final time was 1:50 4/5.

Driven by Scott Zeron for his father Rick and starting from the same post seven she had in her elimination, Atlanta fired out again and got to the opening quarter in 26 2/5. The difference from the elimination came in the second quarter, as Zeron backed down the pace expertly, hitting the half in just 55 2/5.

Elimination winner Tactical Landing (Jimmy Takter) pulled first-up early and was coming slowly throughout the middle-half, towing the other elimination winner Crystal Fashion (Tim Tetrick) into contention from second-over, but Atlanta got separation from both of them midway through the turn and to three-quarters, which flashed up on the board in 1:22 4/5.

It looked like it might be deja vu from the first elimination as Crystal Fashion came three-wide off cover and looked to chase the filly down again, but she was much stronger this time, closing in 28 seconds to win by just about a length. Met's Hall (Andy Miller) came home well after a three-hole trip to get second, with Tactical Landing re-rallying some through the lane to nose out Crystal Fashion for third. Evaluate (Orjan Kihlstrom) checked in the fifth position.

"I've said it to a few people close to me that she's the best horse I've ever driven," Scott Zeron said. "When I drive her, everything is so fluid and effortless. She wasn't even grabby; the mile just got away from me. I was really mad at myself for letting her take advantage of that and get a little weak on the end. That wasn't how I wanted to head into the final, but I said that if she was a champion she would bounce back, and she did.

"She was maintaining speed a lot better than she did in that elimination, so I thought I was gonna get home."

Rick Zeron trains Atlanta, a daughter of Chapter Seven, for the ownership group of his stable, Crawford Farms, Holland Racing Stable, Howard Taylor, and Brad Grant. This was her tenth career victory, and she just missed her lifetime mark by a fifth of a second. She paid $6.40 to win.

"It's unbelievable. I have no words," said Rick Zeron I beat a program to death upstairs on the table, that's for starters. When I saw Scott open up around the last turn, I knew that he had her in-hand, and I knew that coming down the lane she wasn't going to let us down today and neither was Scott.

"Scott had more confidence than me. He knows, he's been driving her all year, and he knew exactly what type of a filly he had. He's kind of the one that persuaded me to put her in with the boys. I just followed the trend and we just trained her up and had her ready for it. I think I managed her the best I could by keeping her away from here other than her first trip, racing her in the sire stakes, getting her all swollen up, and having her ready for a big day like today. Good horses, you don't change anything. You just let the good horses be good horses, that's all."Nikki ShermanAtlanta's connections raise the Hambletonian trophy

Crawford Farms bought into Atlanta earlier this year, and things have worked out spectacularly for them.

"I couldn't be more humbled and honored that they included us in on this amazing filly," said Michelle Crawford. "It's great to meet new people and new partners. We are so excited to add her to our broodmare band down the road. I'm just so excited, great job by all."

For Grant, this was his second big win of the day, joining his early success with Stay Hungry in the Cane Pace.

"It's pretty awesome. She's a great filly," he said. "To be in it is one thing, to bring a filly in it and win it is, I think, special. Rick has done a great job with her. He's had all the faith in her since Day One. Scott has done a great job with her, so that just puts it over the top. There originally were four of us, and then the Crawfords got into the group, and they're great people.

"The colt going in 47 3/5 was outstanding, and then this filly to go two miles in 50, I don't know whether there's words you can really put into it. It's just amazing."

Taylor has had a somewhat checkered past with track operator Jeff Gural, but he fulfilled a dream by winning the Hambletonian for the first time.

"I always dreamed about winning the Hambletonian, did I think I was going to do it? Never, but I always dreamed about it," Taylor remarked. "The Hambletonian is it. I did win the Meadowlands Pace, but this is the best."