If we could turn back time to the start of 2025 and ask anyone involved in harness racing to name the three elimination winners of the Hambletonian Oaks, it is doubtful they would have landed on even two of the three. They didn't win any stakes races as 2-year-olds and accumulated just four wins in 22 starts last year, but when the gate opens for the $500,000 final on Saturday at the Meadowlands, Conversano, Miss Belmar and Delaney Hanover will be among the favorites to win the top race in the sport for 3-year-old trotting fillies. Conversano was the most unassuming of the trio with just $30,125 earned in 2024 and only one Open stakes appearance in the Breeders Crown elimination where she broke and finished 90 lengths back. The results were similar in the New Jersey Classic (broke, 50 lengths back) and New Jersey Sire Stakes (broke, 81 lengths back) finals for Garden State eligibles. There was no serious inclination that the Juan Cano trainee was destined to win her Oaks elimination in 1:52 4/5 as the 1-5 favorite, unless you were perhaps the trainer. "When she was a 2-year-old she was hard to drive but now she's good. She was immature but now you can do whatever you want," said Cano about the difference being her maturation as opposed to talent. Although the road was rocky at the start, it has been a completely different story for Conversano as a sophomore. She's won six of eight starts and already banked $233,511 in 2025 for Joseph Parisi's Hot Lead Farm. The Muscle Hill filly's story mirrors that of her trainer in some ways. Cano came to the U.S. from his native Guatemala in 2000 as a 17-year-old and was working construction. Soon after he began as a groom in Florida. Those early days were difficult. ► Hambletonian Day: Get FREE Harness Eye PPs, watch video analysis & get a 7% Rebate "I was making $323 a week in 2001 working for Brian Pinske. I went for so many years making so little money," said Cano, who saw his fortunes improve dramatically thanks to his girlfriend and another trainer. "I started my own business thanks to my girlfriend [Adrienne Hall] in 2018. We never had these kind of horses, we always had claiming horses and cheaper ones. Now I have a good guy [Parisi] who has given me a chance to prove that I can do it with babies. "Brett Pelling used to have horses with [Parisi] and one day he told them to give me one horse to try. He gave me the horse and I proved that I could do it," continued Cano on the horse that got him started on the new high-end path. That was YS Tallia, and this year he is expecting to break her first baby Windstorm Tallia. "Never in my life," said Cano on whether he thought he'd have one of the favorites in the Hambletonian Oaks. "I was always dreaming about it and now my dream has come true." Conversano drew post six in the Hambletonian Oaks and will have a new driver in James MacDonald after Andrew McCarthy opted for Miss Belmar. Cano said he understood the decision and that this is a business where people have to do what is best for themselves. The change hardly dampers his expectations for the horse and her ability, but there could be a bit of a learning curve with Conversano, as she sometimes waits on horses and was doing that in her elimination. "I'm confident in my horse, but I know Noel Daley has a nice horse too," said Cano. "This is the kind of horse that when she goes by she thinks she's done. When they come at her, she comes right back. The driver has to know to still ask her. She will fight back and won't let the other horses win." The Noel Daley horse Cano referenced is Miss Belmar. While she similarly had trouble winning (0-for-7) in 2024, the expectations were certainly high after her second-place finish in the Breeders Crown. "From day one she had the talent but she was a bit goofy, would run off the track, stop and start, whatever," recalled Daley. The new year didn't bring immediate success for Miss Belmar as she started out slowly with a pair of off-the-board finishes in the New Jersey Sire Stakes. After a win versus lesser in the consolation of that series, she was a well-beaten sixth in the Zweig Filly Trot. Then the light bulb went back on and she won the Reynolds in 1:52 1/5 ahead of her 1:52 3/5 Oaks elimination win. Despite the victory last week, Miss Belmar did take a bad step while cruising along on the lead in the stretch. "She stands like a duck and she does hit her knees. She gets over it when she's rolling, and Andy said that he let her relax because she had it won and she just gets a little fumbly-gaited. He did a good job to grab her there, really," said Daley about the miscue. Daley is ultra-confident in Miss Belmar's ability and called her "the one I think they have to beat." At the same time, he admitted that her Achilles heel can be her ability to stay sound, something he can work around, as he did last year with 3-year-old Dan Patch Award winner Sig Sauer. "She's my Sig Sauer for this year," joked Daley. "It's a matter of keeping her sound. She'll be alright. We'll just keep her in the pool all week." Miss Belmar, who will leave from post one with McCarthy driving, is expected to get an equipment reduction for the $500,000 final as Daley will remove her shoes. "She'll have them off. She's been better when I do pull them off, but I haven't done it all year waiting for next week." With Conversano winning by just a nose and Miss Belmar a half-length in their Oaks eliminations, it is plausible that fellow preliminary round winner Delaney Hanover (1 1/4 lengths in 1:52 3/5) will garner the most public attention as the post time favorite. Unlike her main competition on Saturday, Delaney Hanover started her career strong with a pair of wins as a 2-year-old but then things started to go a bit south and she finished 2024 with just those two victories in seven starts. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter "In her first couple of starts I thought she was the most impressive filly out there," said trainer Lucas Wallin. "I kind of over-raced her when we shipped to Hoosier Park for the Jim Doherty and after that she was not herself. She raced ok at the Red Mile and Breeders Crown elimination but she wasn't herself. So she got a well-deserved rest. I put it all on my shoulders." Wallin has taken a conservative approach in 2025, starting Delaney Hanover just twice ahead of the Oaks elimination. She finished just third and fifth in those preliminary stakes before absolutely exploding off cover to win last Saturday very easily. "We've aimed for this since October of last year. She had her ups and downs but we were always high on her and had patient owners that let us do our work. Looks like it is paying off," said Wallin, who is hardly counting the winner's share of the Oaks just yet. "I think it is a wide-open race but we are definitely one of them that can win. I don't think anyone else looked more impressive than her." Like all elimination winners, Delaney Hanover drew for an inside post (1-6) and landed the five hole with regular driver Scott Zeron in the bike. The complexion of the Oaks, race 10 on the 16-race Meadowlands card that starts at noon, changed dramatically when both expected favorites - Lady Landia and What A Bid Hanover - came up lacking in their eliminations. While the elimination winners lead the way into the final, it remains a wide-open race with a number of legitimate fringe players. Trainer Nancy Takter has a pair of contenders who finished second in their eliminations in Champagne Problems and Deja Blu. Neither horse has stood out in 2025, with less than $60,000 earned for each this year. That said, Champagne Problems was the Dan Patch Award winner for her division in 2024 and Deja Blu is tied as the fourth-fastest 3-year-old filly trotter of 2025 with a 1:52 mile. "I feel like Champagne Problems needed the race," said Takter about the elimination effort before adding that she may race the daughter of Tactical Landing with no shoes in the final. "I think all of my fillies are peaking at the right time," said Takter, also including her Torrisi, who made it into the final as the highest-earning fourth-place finisher in the elimination round. Champagne Problems will leave from post nine with Dexter Dunn driving while Deja Blu has the services of regular driver Yannick Gingras from post two. Torrisi picks up new driver Tim Tetrick and will start her mile from the furthest point on the gate in post 10. Not to be forgotten is the other second-place elimination finisher R Charm. Just behind Conversano last week, the Linda Toscano charge perhaps went the best mile of her year in that race. Starting from post four, the daughter of Propulsion gets a driver change to Hall of Famer Dave Miller this week since Zeron chose Delaney Hanover. Perhaps no horse put in a braver effort in the elimination round then Sound Judgement. With Kevin Oscarsson driving for Jim Oscarsson, the Muscle Hill filly made two moves to the front before ultimately settling for third timed in 1:53. This week the team will leave from the three hole in search of Sound Judgement's first win of the year. Rounding out the field are a pair of third-place elimination fillies who hardly rate as huge longshots on paper despite what the final odds might offer. Walspea (post eight) has won three of seven starts this year and goes out for driver/trainer Trond Smedshammer, who won the Oaks in 2008 with Creamy Mimi. Aperfect Annie (post seven) lost by just two lengths last Saturday, and the Carter Pinske trainee has the services of Todd McCarthy in the bike. He pulled off a Hambletonian shocker at 52-1 with Cool Papa Bell in the 2022 Hambletonian. It has been nine years since the favorite in the Hambletonian Oaks went off at odds of 2-1 or higher, and that was only the second time it has occurred this century. The 2025 edition could very well become the third time and provide the type of race that fans, bettors and industry participants can debate the outcome of until approximately two minutes after the starting gate lets the horses go.