Meadowlands: Hambletonian, Oaks trophies on the line Saturday afternoon

The moment is now for 20 of the best 3-year-old trotters in the sport as two fields of 10 will line up behind the starting gate at The Meadowlands on August 6 with their eyes on arguably the most coveted trophies in the sport. The $1,000,000 Hambletonian headlined by Rebuff and the $500,000 Hambletonian Oaks are the marquee races on a 16-race stakes-filled card showcasing the best Standardbreds on the continent.

By virtue of his 1:52 2/5 elimination win on July 30, Rebuff secured a good starting slot on the gate in the Hambletonian (race 15) and will leave from post 1 with regular driver Tim Tetrick in the bike. The Lucas Wallin-trained son of Muscle Hill bred by Steve Stewart and Michael Andrew is perfect in three starts this year and is just two weeks removed from a track-record equaling 1:49 4/5 win in the Stanley Dancer over the same surface.

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While his elimination time came up more than 10 lengths slower than his career best on July 16, Tetrick has lost no confidence in Rebuff. "I just wanted to get through the first turn clean. I think I have the best horse and he is performing well and just having fun out there now," said Tetrick, who added that the final time was a combination of the track being a little deeper and the rest of the field showing his horse a lot of respect.

With just three starts under his belt this year, Rebuff would seemingly be ready to hit a new peak in terms of performance. Saturday will also mark the first time he has raced back in seven days since winning last year's Breeders Crown and Wallin expects that will only help his horse.

"It will be fine and this race will only get him sharper. I have no doubts," said Wallin, who admitted it is hard to tell if Rebuff has reached his peak because of his on-track demeanor. "He is not a horse that is going to win by 10 lengths because he starts playing with his ears and waiting on other horses."

Wallin competed in the 2021 Hambletonian as a driver behind Cuatro De Julio and ended up seventh after a tough parked-out trip. Perhaps due to that experience, the native of Sweden who co-owns Rebuff with Kjell Magne Andersen and Pieter Delis, is calm and collected despite being the trainer of the 9-5 morning-line favorite.

"It is amazing. It is a dream come true to have a horse in the Hambletonian final that is one of the favorites, but I don't feel any pressure except from myself," said Wallin, who will make no equipment adjustments on Rebuff heading into the final but will tinker with his fringe contender Manon (8-1) in the Hambletonian Oaks, removing her shoes, adding pop-out ear plugs and perhaps a bridle change.

An American Trotting Classic, the Hambletonian is dominated by natives of Sweden on the training side in 2022. Marcus Melander has three contenders in Temporal Hanover, Joviality and Periculum. Two-time Hambletonian winner Ake Svanstedt has elimination winner Jiggy Jog and Nancy Takter sends out two longshots in Keg Stand and Looks Like Moni.

Melander, who also had three starters in the 2019 and 2020 Hambletonian with his best finish being a second with Greenshoe, is hoping that this is his year.

"It is not that easy to win. Everything needs to be 100%," said Melander. "You can be a trainer your whole life and never get one in the final or you can get one in every year, and I'm proud of that.

"I think so," said Melander when asked if all three of his can win. "Periculum is ranked third of mine but if he gets the right trip like he had at Vernon, he can win. Realistically he would probably be third or fourth with a good trip but if he won and you asked me if I was surprised, I would say he's not a bad horse if things go his way."

In an effort to perhaps get a little more out of Periculum (Mattias Melander, post 9) on Saturday, the Muscle Hill colt owned by Holly Lane Stud, Brixton Medical and Howard Taylor will race barefoot, as will stablemate Temporal Hanover.

"We are going to pull his shoes and maybe that will improve him a couple of lengths," said Melander about Temporal Hanover, a son of Walner owned by Amg Stable, K Kjellgren, R Wahlstedt and Heights Stable. "We Europeans like to take the shoes off and most of the time the horses get better. I hope it will be enough to win the race."

Undefeated in six 2022 starts heading into her Hambletonian elimination, Joviality was used to a 55 2/5 half to make the lead from post 10 before getting away with a slow 30-second third quarter and losing by a neck to Jiggy Jog and Temporal Hanover last Saturday. Melander of course wanted a victory but wasn't concerned about the Courant Inc.-owned daughter of Chapter Seven.

"You can always be disappointed by the result but I wasn't disappointed in the horse. I know she got that 30-second quarter but I'm thinking that maybe he shut her down too much, though [driver Brian Sears] was very happy with the way she raced," said Melander, who added that Joviality will likely wear ear plugs for the first time in the Hambletonian final. "I definitely think that can help her because when she has the closed bridle on she can't really see close."

Brian Sears will once again handle Joviality from post 2 while Orjan Kihlstrom, a Swedish driver with more than 7,000 career wins, will steer Temporal Hanover from the 7-hole.

Trainer Ake Svanstedt was a week early with his shoeing changes as he removed the footwear from Jiggy Jog and she flashed speed at both ends of her Hambletonian elimination mile to score a 6-1 upset with a sizzling 26 2/5 final quarter.

"She raced good," said Svanstedt of the Jorgen Sparredal-owned Walner filly. "Dexter [Dunn] said she won with a little power left also. He didn't need to ask her nothing. She just did it herself. That was good. This was her most impressive race."

Jiggy Jog (post 5), who has not been worse than second in six starts this year, will keep Dexter Dunn in the bike while Fast As The Wind, second behind Rebuff after a dull fifth in the Stanley Dancer, gets a driver change to Yannick Gingras.

"We've been fighting some bloodwork issues with him, which we went through last year with him a little bit, but [Saturday] he was much better," said trainer Tony Alagna about Fast As The Wind. "I think he's definitely on the improve."

A longshot who finished with trot and is hoping to step up in the final is Keg Stand. After winning his first two starts, trainer Nancy Takter took a shot by bringing Keg Stand to the big dance and he finished just 2 1/4 lengths back of Jiggy Jog while closing in 26 3/5.

"I was super happy with him," said Takter, who trains the Bar Hopping colt for her mom Christina Takter, Black Horse Racing and John Fielding. "That was only his third start of the year, so he definitely needed that start. He hasn't raced in this type of competition before, so it was nice to see that he seemed to belong."

Keg Stand retains driver David Miller and will start from post 4.

Returning Dan Patch champion King Of The North (post 8, Mark Macdonald) hasn't had much success in 2022 after winning six of 10 starts as a 2-year-old. The good news is that co-owner and trainer Ray Schnittker reported after his elimination that he scoped clean despite the subtraction of Lasix from his regime.

Perhaps the longest shots on the board at post time could be Cool Papa Bell (post 6, Todd McCarthy) and Looks Like Moni (post 10, Andrew McCarthy). Both were listed at 15-1 on the morning-line.

While the Hambletonian will be contested with a clear favorite in Rebuff, the Oaks picture became muddier after the first elimination saw three horses finish within a length of Venerable and the second had heavy favorite Fashion Schooner upended by Warrawee Xenia.

Exclusively for 3-year-old fillies, the Hambletonian Oaks is slated as race 12 with the aforementioned Venerable getting the 9-5 ranking as the morning-line choice. The Oaks has proven to be a formful race as favorites have won three of the last five editions and the last double-digit mutuel winner was back in 2014.

The 2-year-old champion in the division, Venerable started the year slowly but has since won two of her last three starts including her elimination in 1:52 4/5 for driver David Miller. Although she came out victorious, her margin of victory was thinning nearing the wire, perhaps leaving some to wonder if she is a deserving post-time favorite.

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"I think this run puts her to where she needs to be," said trainer Nifty Norman when asked if she was at 100%.

Vernable will start from post 5 for owners David McDuffee, Mel Hartman, Paul Bordogna and Steven Arnold. The group have all seen plenty of success in the Oaks as Norman has won the race three times and both McDuffee and Hartman have two wins each. Norman and McDuffee won the 2021 Hambletonian Oaks with Bella Bellini.

The firing line of filly trotters behind Venerable in her elimination -- Yanaba (Andrew McCarthy, post 1), Bare My Soul (Yannick Gingras, post 2) and Selfie Queen (Orjan Kihlstrom, post 6) -- will all try to step it up a notch in the final and each trainer feels like their horses belong.

"She's a trier and a better horse than they give her credit for because she's a Trixton," said Yanaba's trainer Dan Daley.

"She leaves like a hobbled pacer. She can really scat off the wings and that is probably her best attribute," relayed trainer Linda Toscano of Bare My Soul. "I don't know if she can beat them but she can go with them. She has the tactical speed to get her involved."

"I think definitely she should take a step forward with another start under her belt. It's just a matter of her wanting to do her work next week. That's what it comes down to. She's got the speed and the talent, she just needs to have it all come together at once," said trainer Nancy Takter on Selfie Queen.

While Fashion Schooner went down as the 1-5 chalk in her elimination when Warrawee Xenia came with a surprise late charge at 7-1, trainer Jim Campbell hasn't lost any faith in the quest for his second Oaks win with the daughter of his first (Broadway Schooner -- 2009).

"I wasn't disappointed in her. That filly was coming strong. For whatever reason the track was not as fast tonight as it normally is, you saw that in the first division where Rebuff went in 52 and her race went in 52," said Campbell. "We were setting her up for this race and I think it is a good time for her to come back and race in seven days. We've spotted her races by design until this point."

Tim Tetrick, who as the driver of Rebuff seemingly has a serious chance of becoming just the third driver to win the Hambletonian and Oaks in the same year, will be in the bike behind Fashion Schooner and tasked with figuring out a winning trip from post 10.

Warrawee Xenia enters the final on a streak of seven straight wins and uncorked the fastest last quarter (26 4/5) of any Oaks starter in the elimination round. Her final time was a career best 1:52 2/5 despite the removal of Lasix since the race conditions don't permit the medication.

"She doesn't train on Lasix but she did bleed once at the end of last year and once training down this year," said co-owner/trainer Mark Steacy. "I was a little concerned but I was hoping it wouldn't be a problem."

Steacy is very confident in Warrawee Xenia's ability and believes if the track is faster, as has been the case most weekends due to weather conditions, his charge will respond.

"We think we can go 1:50. Speed isn't the issue with this horse," said Steacy. "She can get a little fumbly on the turns. You have to try to protect her, but she is probably faster than these horses."

Driver Bob McClure, already a Hambletonian winner as he scored in 2019 with Forbidden Trade, agreed with Steacy on her speed potential and felt that perhaps she is no longer as finicky as she was early in her career. "I can be more confident and leave with her. I think she's gotten to the point where she's over those issues from the past and Mark's gotten her to the point where you can drive her like a pacer."

Warrawee Xenia starts from the 3-hole for the ownership group of Steacy, David McDonald, Dale Larson and Diane Bertrand.

Other qualifiers from the second elimination include Pink Coco Chanel (Joe Bongiorno, post 8), Mon Cheval (Andrew McCarthy, post 9) and Baptism (Ake Svanstedt, post 7).

The Hambletonian is scheduled as race 15 with a post time of 6:35 p.m. EDT while the Oaks is race 12 and expected to start at 4:48 p.m. Supporting stakes on the card include the $355,000 Jim Doherty and $337,000 Peter Haughton for 2-year-old trotters, the $278,000 Sam McKee and $173,000 Lady Liberty for older pacers, the $258,300 Cane and $92,300 Shady Daisy for sophomore pacers, and the $279,000 John Cashman and $145,000 John Steele for older trotters.

The Meadowlands will offer four guaranteed wagers on the card: $50,000 Pick 6 (race 1); $75,000 Pick 5 (race 3); $100,000 Pick 4 (race 8); and $125,000 Pick 4 (race 12).

(some quotes courtesy Ken Weingartner/Hambletonian Society)