Meadowlands: Hambo champ, undefeated rookie highlight NJ Classic elims

Two stars of harness racing - one firmly established and the other one budding - will be in action at the Meadowlands on Friday (Sept. 4) as the track hosts the elimination round of the New Jersey Classic series. Hambletonian winner Apex and the undefeated Wall Of Fame will compete in consecutive races as prohibitive favorites in the 3-year-old colt and gelding trot and 2-year-old filly trot, respectively.

Eliminations are scheduled on the Friday card for four of the eight divisions. The 2-year-old colt and gelding pace, as well as both 3-year-old filly splits (trot and pace) and the 3-year-old colt and gelding pace will go straight to the finals (entrants can be found below).

Apex makes his first trip to the track since his thrilling Hambletonian victory by a nose over Big Ranger on August 8 at The Meadowlands. The Marcus Melander trainee stopped the timer in 1:49 2/5, becoming the first sub-1:50 winner in the history of America's Trotting Classic.

"He's fantastic," said Melander. "He came out of the race great and he's ready to race again. He probably could have raced in the Beal [at Pocono] because he came out of the Hambletonian so good, but we made the decision to skip that and just gave him an extra week or two."

Owned by Jeff Snyder, S R F Stable and Steve Stewart, Apex has won four of five starts in 2026 and 10 of 14 career races. His career earnings sit at just over $1.6 million, a number that is sure to rise over the next six weeks with a number of races on his schedule.

"We might take a trip up to Canada for the Canadian Trotting Classic [eliminations on Sept. 19 and final on Sept. 26]. Obviously, we'll take this New Jersey Classic race first and then we'll see after that," said Melander, who added that whether that race has eliminations could decide whether Apex goes in the Kentucky Futurity at The Red Mile on October 3. "We'll see if it has an elimination or not. If we're not going to Canada, we'll just go for the Kentucky Futurity."

Apex starts from post three in the eighth event on the 14-race card. Regular driver Dexter Dunn will be in the bike guiding the likely 1-9 post-time favorite.

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Short odds are also in store for the backers of Wall Of Fame one race later. That is because the Julie Miller-trained filly has never come close to tasting defeat in six career starts, winning all of them by a combined total of more than 18 lengths. The accomplishments are already impressive and Miller is thrilled.

"I have some amazement, but by the same token, she's a nice, big horse. She doesn't have any really wasted motion. She just seems to do it with ease," said Miller. "When I watch Andy [Miller] or Tyler [Miller] train her, I have the watch out. It looks like she's going a mile at 2:40, and she's going a mile at 2:10 on our farm. That's more amazing in that she doesn't look like she's going fast, but she is."

Following a sweep of the New Jersey Sire Stakes Platinum series at the Meadowlands, Wall Of Fame went on to The Red Mile and has added consecutive Kentucky Championship Series scores to set up a likely appearance in that final on September 20. Proving her consistency, each of her past five wins have seen her stop the clock between 1:52 and 1:52 3/5.

"Andy's never really called on her. She's doing all her work by herself. And as of right now, she really does enjoy her work," said Julie. "We've never popped her ear plugs, and he's never really had to encourage her down the lane."

A daughter of Walner-Saadet purchased for $60,000 at the Lexington Selected Sale by Andy Miller Stable, Jean Goehlen, Hutchison Harness LLC. and Rick Huffman, Wall Of Fame has earned $230,000 in her career. She starts from post one with Andy Miller in the bike.

"The biggest thing last year is I kind of went in [to the sales] with a business model of not getting caught up that you have to buy horses that are $500,000 because they're always nice horses on the page and conformation. That's a lot of money you have to recoup if you're making it as a business model for your horses," said Julie. "So, I really tried this year to keep my budget under $200,000 for any horse we bought, and I just seemed to get really lucky that I bought a handful in the $20,000 to $80,000 range that have turned out okay."

Assuming Wall Of Fame qualifies for the New Jersey Classic final, she will compete in that race on September 11 before heading to the Kentucky Championship Series final. Then she has the Bluegrass and International Stallion Stakes at The Red Mile on her schedule ahead of the Goldsmith Maid (elims on November 8 and final on November 15) at the Meadowlands. She is not eligible to the Breeders Crown.

"If Andy and I have horses that are dual-eligible, we really take advantage of those programs. So, we didn't even make her eligible to the Breeders Crown because there's so much opportunity with the New Jersey Sire Stakes program and Kentucky Sire Stakes program," said Julie. "We own a lot of pieces of our horses and we have to be conscious. I just don't check yes to every horse's box on Bluegrass [Staking Service]. When you look at how much the Breeders Crown payments cost - Scioto is a great place to race, and I think she'd be great on a five-eighths...we elected to not put her in the Breeders Crown. I don't know if that was a good decision or not, but it's the one we made."

Post time for Friday is 6:30 P.M. (EDT).

The four divisions going directly to the final are as follows:

3-year-old colt and gelding pace - Bookie J, Sonofanutcracker, Corvette Stingray, Thisbeestings Deo, Callmebigpapi, Rocknacious, Dancin Daddy

3-year-old filly pace - Be Perfect Bg, Car Keys, Perfect Thought, She Stings, Napalm, Ladysassin, Greenstreet

3-year-old filly trot - Isabella Bi, Southwind Chaska, Leading Lady, Emmas Mysery CCL, Custom, Whatarace Hanover, Sugar Packet, Sparks, Grand Prix Deo, Adios My Lindy

2-year-old colt pace - Aintmyfirstro Deo, Five Alarm Fire, Goal Oriented, Whiskey Stinger, Yellow Jacket, BC's Odds On, King Of Sting, We Want Eazy, Whodouthinkuriam