Meadowlands Pace: $701,830 Final is up for grabs on Saturday

In recent years the Meadowlands Pace has been dominated by overwhelming favorites, from Captaintreacherous in 2013 to Huntsville in 2017. The unprecedented run has seen an average win price of just $3.60 in the signature race for The Meadowlands.

All streaks must end.

While it is impossible to predict whether the favorite will win the 2018 Meadowlands Pace on July 14, one can say with certainty that the winner won’t be odds-on come post time. The 10-horse field contains a multitude of contenders while lacking an obvious standout.

The public’s choice seems likely to be Courtly Choice, the Winbak Farms-bred son of Art Major trained by Blake MacIntosh. Installed as the 5-2 morning line choice from post 5 with David Miller listed to drive, Courtly Choice has earned his role via a convincing first-over victory in what was widely considered the toughest of the two eliminations in terms of field quality. His final time of 1:48 2/5 also easily eclipsed the 1:49 winning clocking from the first elimination.

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For MacIntosh, getting into the Final was a long time coming after a series of unfortunate events which have kept Courtly Choice as the King of the consolations.

“We’ve had some bad luck in the eliminations. In the North America Cup I thought we were going to be first or second in the elimination but we hooked wheels around the last turn; Dave (Miller) felt terrible about it. We came back and won the consolation,” said MacIntosh. “Then in the (Max) Hempt we just had an impossible position. We came away last. It wasn’t Mark’s (MacDaonald) fault, it just ended up that way. He paced the back half in 52 and a piece; there is just nothing you can do from back there.”

Courtly Choice would go on to win the Max Hempt consolation in 1:48 4/5 at The Downs at Pocono, just one-fifth slower than the winning time by Springsteen in the final.

Now finally racing for the big money ($701,830) on Saturday, MacIntosh believes his horse has earned his position in the 3-year-old pacing colt division.

“I think we’ll be one of the favorites. He’s a nice horse and deserves to be the favorite,” said MacIntosh.

One of two supplements for $61,690 along with fellow finalist Jimmy Freight, MacIntosh said it was truly a last minute decision to even put up the money.

“On Sunday I wasn’t coming but on Monday I looked at the field and saw that Lather Up wasn’t coming and the ‘Time’ horse (Lost In Time) got hurt. I looked at the field and thought, we got a good shot at this,” said MacIntosh. “I texted Daniel Plouffe and said that it is too bad we are not paid in and he said ‘let’s do it’. So then I called the other partners and we all agreed to go ahead and do it. It was a tough call. It was my decision, and at the end because I own 12.5%, I was the last owner to decide and I was on the fence. Casie Coleman actually texted me and said ‘you gotta do it’. Casie and I have a past, we were a couple before and we are still friends. She said you gotta do it, so I did.”

A disadvantage for Courtly Choice and also Nutcracker Sweet is a daunting workload for the pair since late May. Over the last 56 days leading up to the Final, both horses have competed eight times.

“He’s holding up good. Dave said he got a little bumpy in the last turn (in his elimination), but we’ll fix him up; there’s nothing major with him. After this week he’s going to have to have some time off; like a week off,” said MacIntosh.

Should Courtly Choice falter in his attempt to keep a three-year run of winning favorites, 3-1 second choice on the morning line, elimination winner Stay Hungry, could be next in the pecking order.

Driver Doug McNair worked out a perfect second-over trip and the son of Somebeachsomewhere responded with a vicious turn of speed to sprint home in 25 3/5 and capture his elimination. The effort was reminiscent of the North America Cup elimination where the Tony Alagna trainee sprinted home in 26-seconds to secure his spot in the Final the following week.

Derick Giwner Photo Javier Orantes has taken care of Stay Hungry since he was a yearling.

“He has a really efficient gait to him,” said Alagna about Stay Hungry, who will start from post 1 on Saturday. “He really gets over the ground well. He's a medium-sized horse, so he is quicker to get in gear than some bigger horses and he can turn his speed on really fast.”

While Alagna looks for that patented late charge again from Stay Hungry on Saturday, what he hopes doesn’t reappear is his penchant for finishing fourth when the money is on the line, something the colt has done in both the North America Cup and Hempt finals.

“I think the horse raced much better than the end result,” said Alagna about his finish in the Hempt Memorial. “People see a fourth-place finish but they don't consider how fast he left the gate.”

While the elimination winners tend to get the most love on the odds board in the Final, there are a number of horses in the Pace that merit serious consideration. Both American History and Hayden Hanover were runner-ups in their respective eliminations while losing by just three-quarters of a length.

Hayden Hanover had a clean trip in the pocket and every chance to out-kick Stay Hungry in the stretch, but he still holds a decided advantage over that foe in terms of his ability to display high speed off the gate and finish his miles with nearly equal fervor. The Hanover Shoe Farms bred will need that early speed on Saturday as driver Andy Miller will have to overcome post 7.

American History, on the other hand, was locked in the pocket while driver Yannick Gingras seemed to be doing his best to restrain a very eager colt. It took some time for the pair to find daylight in the stretch and they paced home even with winner Courtly Choice once the opportunity existed.

“Some horses are made differently than others. Some have a tendency to tuck their chin more than others. It is more precaution than anything else,” said Alagna about using a choke plate on American History. “You see a lot of great horses now that wear a choke plate. Putting that on helped the horse because Yannick can grab into him if he needs to and not have to worry about anything.”

Alagna added that while American History appears to be anxious when sitting behind horses, he is actually rather easy to control.

Starting from post 3, driver Yannick Gingras could elect to be very aggressive with a horse that already has the fastest lifetime mark in the field by far at 1:47. That is something that may not have been possible at the start of the season, but the Brittany Farms product seems to be coming into his own mentally as the year progresses.

“He was so easy to train back down this winter that it wasn't until we got into the first race or two that we had to be careful with him again because he got very excited there early,” said Alagna about American History’s excitable nature early in the year. “It's something that you can't correct when they don't do it training, so we had to do a little bit of tinkering with him after his first start and I feel like we now have him in a good spot.”

Alagna also has 30-1 outsider Babes Dig Me in the field starting from post 9. “He's been in a lot of tough spots this year and I don't think we've seen the best of that horse yet,” said Alagna. “I don't think he is a top three colt in the country but I think he is better than he's had an opportunity to show.”

Jimmy Freight had the public’s confidence as they sent him off as the 4-5 favorite in his elimination. He set somewhat reasonable fractions for this group of 27, 54 2/5 and 1:22 2/5 before tiring to finish in a dead-heat for third 1-1/2 lengths behind Courtly Choice.

Jimmy Freight’s effort earned him 9-2 status as third choice as he starts from post 4 in the field of 10.

Owner Adriano Sorella flew down from Canada to watch his stable star perform and seemed somewhat disappointed with the loss but happy that he’d get a spot on the gate in the Final.

Sharing third in the elimination with Jimmy Freight was Dorsodoro Hanover. The lone entrant from the powerful Ron Burke stable has proven to be one of the faster horses off the gate and driver Matt Kakaley will need to utilize that quality if he’ll have any chance from post 10.

Dorsoduro Hanover was also on the lead in the Max Hempt but tired to lose by a length after setting torrid fractions of 26, 53 1/5 and 1:20 2/5.

Third behind Stay Hungry was the late-blooming Thinkbig Dreambig, one of two entrants from trainer Jimmy Takter along with Nutcracker Sweet. The son of Bettor’s Delight posted the fastest final quarter last week when he finished in 25 2/5, but that wasn’t enough to extend his winning streak to five.

Thinkbig Dreambig starts from post 8 on Saturday with Stratton once again in the bike.

Nutcracker Sweet will leave from post 6 in the field with new driver Brian Sears taking over the lines because David Miller opted for Courtly Choice. Another son of Bettor’s Delight, the colt out of top broodmare Sweet Future was second in the Hempt and sixth in the North America Cup.

Capping off the field is This Is The Plan from post 2 with driver Tim Tetrick. The duo sat third along the cones in their elimination but could not rally in the stretch despite a 25 4/5 final quarter.

Dorsoduro Hanover, Thinkbig Dreambig, Nutcracker Sweet and This Is The Plan were all listed between 12-1 and 15-1 on the morning line.

The Meadowlands Pace goes as race 8 on a 14-race card that includes 11 stake races. Post time for the opener is 6:35 p.m.