Meadowlands: Norman students try to ace stakes this weekend

For trainer "Nifty" Norman there have been many questions asked this year about his 3-year-old filly trotter Venerable and few answers.

"She's a puzzle right now," said Norman on Wednesday regarding Venerable, one of three fillies he'll start in separate divisions of the W.N. Reynolds stakes at the Meadowlands on Friday night.

"She's sound," said Norman. "Last year she was very aggressive. This year she's not been that way. That's usually a good thing, but it hasn't been so far."

Venerable has only made two pari-mutuel starts this year and was victorious in her first race of the year, a New Jersey Sire Stakes on May 6, but since then there have been a series of miscues with no single root cause as to why.

"She wore a lot of equipment last year," said Norman. "She trained well over the winter and I took a lot of it off. After the way she's been I decided to put everything back on before the qualifier."

Venerable, with her 2021 equipment back, won her qualifier at the Meadowlands on June 18 quite handily, but Norman won't be convinced all is on course until Venerable proves it in a race.

"We'll see how she goes this week. If not, we have a few more weeks left to get it right," Norman said, hopeful that he and racing fans will start to see the Venerable that beat the boys last year in the Mohawk Million and went on to capture nine of her 11 freshman starts.

Venerable drew post five in the second Reynolds division (race three), a field that includes another Norman trainee Lilbitalexis.

"I was very happy with her last start," said Norman, who has had trouble finding spots to race the daughter of Walner this year. "It was a sloppy track and she finished strongly."

Lilbitalexis drew post eight.

The $440,000 yearling purchase Delilah Hanover starts Norman's Friday night off in the first $35,600 Reynolds division. The Muscle Hill-sired filly landed post five in a solid 11-horse grouping that includes New Jersey Sire Stakes final winner Fashion Schooner (post six) and Pennsylvania Sire Stakes winner Mon Cheval (post 11), along with the streaking Baptism (post seven), who is in search of her fourth straight stakes tally.

"I'm very happy with her progress. She's matured a lot this year and gotten stronger," Norman said of Delilah Hanover, who enters the race following a pair of solid victories over the Harrah's Philadelphia five-eighths mile oval.

On Saturday night at the Meadowlands, Norman appears to have a solid hand in a few of the major stakes races. Bella Bellini landed post two in the $131,250 Six Pack for trotting mares to start off the Grand Circuit action on the 13-race card.

"I normally don't like to race her back-to-back-to-back," said Norman of Bella Bellini. "But this is actually a good spot for her."

Bella Bellini landed post two in Saturday's third race, a field of six that includes When Dovescry (post one) and Atlanta (post four), a pair of mares that no 4-year-old in the past few years would wish to tackle, but Norman seems confident that his has taken the step up.

"She's much stronger this year. Look at that race in the Armbro Flight," Norman said. "I thought at the head of the stretch she was going to finish seventh but when she saw When Dovescry coming she just picked it up again."

Bella Bellini has finished on the board in all six starts this year.

Norman picked up the conditioning of Jack's Legend N following this year's MGM Borgata Pacing Series at Yonkers, and the veteran trainer has yet to find the winner's circle with him. That may be about to change on Saturday with $50,000 on the line in an "Inside Harness" Series final carded as race seven.

"That was a great run he put in last week" said Norman of the fast-closing third beaten just a half-length in a 1:47 4/5 mile. "I think he's the horse to beat in there."

Jack's Legend N was 11th at the quarter-mile marker and finished third in the June 25 leg of the series.

"The race in Canada didn't go his way after he left the gate," said Norman, referring to the tenth-place finish to Bulldog Hanover on June 11 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Fire Start Hanover looks for her first win as a 4-year-old in Saturday's $143,000 Perfect Sting for pacing mares carded as race nine.

"I've been happy with her. She's fresh right now," said Norman. "There wasn't much she could do last week, but she raced well in Canada."

Fire Start Hanover was a solid second behind Test Of Faith in the Roses Are Red final when she started from post six and Test Of Faith had post two. Post positions are reversed on Saturday with Fire Start Hanover drawing the pole position and Test Of Faith starting from post 10 on the outside of a solid group of pacing mares.

► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter

Lyons Sentinel, last year's division champion, has won two of her four starts this year and came up a bit short in the Roses Are Red but looks to bounce back with a return to the Meadowlands. One of two Jim King Jr.-trained mares in the field, Lyons Sentinel drew post eight.

Racine Bell (post six) has been first or second in 10 of her 12 starts this year and has explosive gate speed. Gia's Surreal put in some big efforts in Canada over the last month and returns to the care of Ed Hart on Saturday. The So Surreal-sired mare drew post five.

The Saturday program also includes a pair of Roll With Joe divisions for older pacers and the Crawford Farms Trot, featuring the return to action of 1:49 1/5 winner Ecurie D. The racing commences at 6:20 p.m.