Meadowlands: Jenny Melander charges hope to be fresh off the bench this weekend

When you are training a racehorse stable, the number of starts each horse makes is of major importance. Trainer Jenny Melander runs a 17-horse barn from Wind Gap, Pennsylvania, that is top-weighted with overnight horses, and she strives to race them as frequently as she can. This weekend she has four horses entered at the Meadowlands and one at Yonkers on Friday night.

"We've become a racehorse stable primarily," said Melander. While she has focused on trotters for the better part of her career, the stable has taken on a new shape with three pacers in training, including Mach N Cheese, a classy 7-year-old that will make his debut for her in Saturday's fourth race.

"He'd been turned out and we got him in December," said Melander of the acquisition. Mach N Cheese had been moved a few times last year while making 17 starts and earning in excess of $137K in the process.

"I like the way he's come back. He qualified the way I wanted to see and came out of it in good shape," said Melander of Mach N Cheese, who drew the pole position in a race labeled non-winners of $7,000 in last five starts.

"It's hard for me to gauge him coming back since I didn't have him before to compare anything with," said Melander. Nevertheless, Mach N Cheese has a history of racing at a much higher level during his career and does own a 1:49 4/5 mark taken at the Meadowlands in 2019.

Melander has three horses entered Friday night at the Meadowlands. This includes two in the same race, and that was a bit frustrating to her.

"It's a tough situation at the Meadowlands," Melander said. "I entered seven horses and just four got in. I entered Meadowbranch Ricky in a lower class, but they put two classes together, and he got in tougher."

Meadowbranch Ricky drew post six in Friday's $18,000 conditioned trot, going as race 10.

"He actually finished pretty well in his last start, but it was at a lower level," said Melander of Meadowbranch Ricky.

Hunting As (post eight) is Melander's second horse in the field, and the 5-year-old by Lionhunter is making his first start in 2022, having last raced at Yonkers on December 17.

"We bought him off Anette Lorentzon," said Melander, who has made multiple purchases of horses which are not of stakes-caliber from Lorentzon. "He had been racing right through the season, and he needed a break. There was nothing wrong with him; it's just that I think all horses need a break."

Hunting As was one of a few horses in Melander's care last year that broke six figures in seasonal earnings, finishing on the board in 18 of his 33 starts, good for a $115K bankroll in 2021. While the time away could be a concern, Hunting As had worked his way up the classes at Yonkers in December and makes his return at a reduced level.

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Circle Of Life As is another Lorentzon castoff that has enjoyed success with Melander. The 5-year-old mare won eight of 29 starts last year and returns after a six-week rest. Circle Of Life As won her next-to-last start of 2021 against the non-winners of six pari-mutuel races class at Yonkers.

"With the group we have I want to have them racing at Yonkers and the Meadowlands," said Melander, who stables closer to Mohegan Sun Pocono than the other two tracks. "As long as they can compete at Yonkers or Meadowlands, they will stay there."

Melander has Nextroundsonme, a 6-year-old, racing at Yonkers on Friday night, where she'll be in attendance. A starter 38 times in 2021, Nextroundsonme earned a bit over $100K in the process. He drew post seven in the non-winners of $20,000 last five class carded as race 10.

The cancellation of last week's Meadowlands program was tough on many trainers who bank on the winter months to help pay the bills. Melander was hoping that one of her best purchases of last year – Major Battle – would get in at the Meadowlands on the weekend card, but the Art Major-sired mare didn't make the cut. Major Battle, a $41,000 purchase from the 2021 Meadowlands Winter Mixed Sale, earned $117K for Melander last year, racing in high-end pacing events for fillies and mares.

While Melander's former stock in trade was cultivating young trotters, she hasn't entirely given up on them. In training are a pair of homebred Donato Hanover-sired 2-year-old colts, as well as one by Southwind Frank purchased at auction last year.