Meadowlands: Cleary looking to put finishing touches on strong 2023 campaign

Trainer Robert Cleary's stable has continued to grow over the years. The native of Ireland has combined success with young horses with a group imported from Great Britain to an impressive 2023 season. He closes out the year with a pair at The Meadowlands on Saturday night that includes a promising new arrival and an old friend back in his barn after a brief hiatus.

Oakwood Ardan is a 4-year-old by Sweet Lou that caught the eye in his North American debut two weeks ago with a 1:50 4/5 career-best victory for Cleary. He’ll look for a second straight on Saturday night in the third race at The Meadowlands.

“I thought he would be a horse that would do better on a bigger track,” said Cleary. “He’d been racing only half mile tracks.” Technically the Irish-bred Oakwood Ardan has a solid American pedigree. “He’s a well-bred horse,” Cleary said. “He’s a half brother to Ideal Cowboy and that horse has made over $840,000.” Given the bloodlines Cleary thought Oakwood Ardan would work out well racing in North America. “I’d watched his races (in Great Britain) and thought he was lightly raced,” said Cleary, who didn’t appear surprised with the wicked time in the gelding’s first local appearance. “He’d been training good and both drivers liked him in the qualifiers.” With just $35,678 in career earnings Oakwood Ardan would be eligible to lucrative non-winners races at Yonkers when it re-opens in late January but Cleary sounded committed to keeping Oakwood Ardan off the small tracks for now. On Saturday night he’ll meet The Good Doctor (post 9) again, the colt he outdueled in the stretch in his first start.

Gentlemanjim II IE is now back in Cleary’s stable after struggling to reach his potential with another outfit. “The original owner has a sentimental attachment to the horse and wants him to have a nice retirement after he’s done racing,” said Cleary of his decision to repurchase Gentlemanjim II IE. “He’s a quirky horse and wasn’t racing to his potential but I think we’ve got him back now.” Gentlemanjim II IE landed post 10 in Saturday’s fifth race at The Meadowlands, a claiming handicap where he’ll go for a $29,000 tag. The soon-to-be 10-year-old has finished first or second in four of his last five starts. Gentlemanjim II IE was one of the first horses Cleary brought over from his native country back in 2020 and his success led to many others being imported to race in North America.

Cleary’s ability converting imports from Ireland into success stories in North America has gained him acclaim and helped add to his now growing stable. “We’ve got something like 27-28 horses in the stable right now, the most we’ve ever had,” said Cleary of the large group. “I’ve got 12 coming 2-year-olds.”

While it’s way too early to start talking about 2024’s freshman class Cleary did sound happy with the early action from the dozen he’s training. He pointed to a pair from the first crops of Tall Dark Stranger and Papi Rob Hanover that have impressed him thus far.

This year Cleary had one of the better freshman pacing colts in North America that was under the radar for most of the year. Maxim Hanover, a son of Captaintreacherous, captured the Matron stakes at year’s end and followed that up with a third-place finish in the Governor’s Cup. “He started coming around later in the year” said Cleary about the colt that earned $190K over the campaign. “I think the best part with him is that he finished the season well and sound,” said Cleary.

Looking ahead to 2024 with Maxim Hanover Cleary is more than excited about the prospects given how this year ended. He’ll look to take a tactical approach to the campaign and hope Maxim Hanover is up to the task when some of the big races are on the schedule. “I think we’ll try to pick our spots,” Cleary said. “The owner would really like to win the Little Brown Jug so that’s a race we are likely to point towards.”

Maxim Hanover was a multiple stakes winner and captured four of his last six starts this year including victories in the Reynolds and Liberty Bell. He was entered to race in the Breeders Crown but came up sick and had to be scratched from the elimination. Perhaps pedigree would be a significant indicator in how Maxim Hanover will project on the sophomore class in 2024. Given his dam is a sister to the dam of Mad Max Hanover, a top 3-year-old from 2022, as well as Mirage Hanover, one of last year’s premier Ontario-bred freshman colts, there’s good reason to believe the bloodlines are in place for a solid sophomore stakes season.

Cleary is also expecting something positive to come from a few of the homebreds sent his way. “Eric Cherry sent us six homebreds,” said Cleary of the half-dozen soon-to-be freshman he’s entrusted with. “It’s very exciting.”

With a 2023 season that sent Cleary’s stable over the $1 million mark for the second time with a career-best 71 wins to date (thru Dec. 27), the future appears quite bright. The combination of smart imports with earning potential on the East Coast and a solid mix of well-bred colts and fillies is cause for tremendous optimism. What has been obvious for those watching Cleary’s horses over the last five years is that when they hit the track, they are ready to perform. With a Universal Trainer Rating of .434 though the current Big M meet his horses won or hit the board with incredible precision. Even with the numbers swelling his stable expect more of the same in 2024.

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