Meadowlands: Road to the Hambletonian, Oaks begins Friday

It may not rank up there on the holiday calendar with "May the 4th be with you" or "Cinco de Mayo" for most, but May 6, 2022 is a special date for Standardbred racing. That first Friday of the fifth month is the maybe-not-so-official starting point on the Road to the Hambletonian and Hambletonian Oaks.

On Friday at the Meadowlands, 33 of the 188 total horses eligible to perhaps the two most important races for 3-year-old trotters will be in attendance to compete in the first leg of the New Jersey Sire Stakes. While the combatants in three colts and geldings divisions lack serious 2021 credentials and contain more "hopefuls" than contenders at this point for the big trophy on the first Saturday in August, the two nine-horse filly splits are loaded with horses that you should very much expect to see in the Hambletonian Oaks.

Leading the way on the filly side is clearly Dan Patch 2-year-old Trotting Filly of the Year Venerable. One of only two trotters to eclipse the million mark in earnings last year, Venerable won nine of 11 starts, including the Mohawk Million, Peaceful Way and Jim Doherty stakes. While trainer Nifty Norman is hoping for an encore performance in 2022, like any experienced horseman, he's staying grounded.

"Expectations are always high but the reality is we'll see," said Norman about his forecast for Venerable in 2022. "She had a fantastic year. I'm always of the opinion that a year like that takes its toll a little bit. I don't know how her stamina will be, so I'll probably try to space her races out a bit and see how she handles the racing. I have a lot of confidence in her, but you never know how they'll come back."

The early returns were fine as Venerable was handled patiently by regular driver David Miller and finished with a 27 2/5 final quarter while gaining a couple of lengths in the stretch through a 1:55 1/5 mile in her lone qualifier.

"She was strong, relaxed and trotted good, so I was happy with her," said Norman. "She's grown a lot. She is much bigger than she was last year, and for the better. She looks good and has a lot of weight on."

Owned by Dave McDuffee, Mel Hartman, Paul Bordogna and Steven Arnold, Venerable starts from post two on Friday in the first $30,000 Sire Stakes split (race nine). Stamped as the 3-1 morning-line favorite in what is clearly the tougher division on paper, bettors should take into account that while Venerable looks imposing and is certainly capable of winning, she is likely going to take a more conservative approach.

"The idea would be to just try and get a good finish and get some points to get into the final," said Norman, who added that ideally she would not have to start in leg two the following week and could make her next start in the May 27 final.

Venerable will take on some serious filly power on Friday with Yanaba, perfect in two starts this year at the Meadowlands, Fashion Schooner, an eight-plus-length winner last weekend over the track, and Jiggy Jog S, a recent blowout 1:53 4/5 qualifying winner and Breeders Crown third-place finisher, in the field.

Two races later another set of nine fillies will go behind the gate, and 3-1 morning-line favorite Gracelyn Hanover jumps off the page as the one to beat considering her lifetime mark is nearly two seconds faster than the rest of the field.

Leased by Harmony Oaks Racing Stable and trained by John Butenschoen, Gracelyn Hanover posted a 6-2-3-0 record in 2021 before getting scratched-sick and calling it a year in early September. She returned to the races with a winning qualifier on April 15 and followed it up with a third-place finish at the Meadowlands where she was parked every step of the mile.

"She raced super last week in her first start back," said driver Corey Callahan. "We were trying to keep her quiet by not leaving with her and she was still aggressive. So we were out the whole way, luckily with cover. She never quit. John [Butenschoen] said he was going to make some changes, and drawing the rail actually makes it easier because I can get away closer without having to leave hard."

The boys will compete in the third, fourth and eighth races on the card. While nearly half of the 26 entered are coming off qualifiers, trainer Lucas Wallin is hoping his Winning Key Inc.-owned B A Superhero can build off a very professional 1:54 win over the track on April 29.

"Maybe a little," said Wallin when asked if having the start in hand gave his Muscle Hill colt an advantage. "With him I wanted to give him a race because he is a little heavy in his body, and he needs a couple of races to get smooth-going. I didn't think he was going to be as smooth as he was in his first start. Last year he had a problem hitting his knees a lot, but he didn't do it in his first start. Of course he got stronger in his body and he can handle his gait better. He's going to race against a lot tougher horses this week, and he needs to step up, but I'm pretty sure the way we train him, he should be good."

Should B A Superhero make it through the Sire Stakes with a good showing, Wallin is of course thinking about the Hambletonian.

"He needs to show me a lot more, but we have hopes for that, and I think he is that type of horse," said Wallin. "He still races with heavy steel shoes. When we start to lighten him up, I think he'll be a little quicker. He's not the quickest horse, but he has a lot of stamina and keeps going."

Tim Tetrick will again be in the bike behind B A Superhero (8-5 M/L) from post seven and will have another contender to his right in the Nancy Takter-trained Looks Like Moni (3-1).

"He always had high ability. He has a lot of speed but his attitude wasn't always the best," said driver Yannick Gingras, who sat behind the Brittany Farms, Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld-owned son of Muscle Hill last year and in a 1:55 1/5 qualifying win on April 30 at the Meadowlands. "They gelded him this winter and he qualified good. He is probably better following horses than being on the front, but they were going so slow and I knew they were going to enter him, so I wanted to get a decent mile in him."

Robertsin (post three) and Laws Of Motion (post six) are others to watch in the group. Both competed in the Sire Stakes last year and saw some success.

B A Superhero isn't the only horse entering the Sire Stakes with 2022 experience. Jack Rabbit Slims (race eight, 4-1) looks to build on a three-race winning streak at Harrah's Hoosier Park as he ships 700 miles or so from Indiana for a chance to show what he has in the tank.

"We think he is pretty good," said Jay Hochstetler, who trained the gelding for his father Homer Hochstetler, Robert Buddig and Allen Schwartz when he was at Hoosier. "[Driver Peter] Wrenn was really high on him, and he should like Meadowlands more than Hoosier."

Tyler Buter will drive Jack Rabbit Slims from post three for current trainer Todd Buter.

From the group in the opening colts and geldings Sire Stakes, trainer Marcus Melander has the most representation with four entered. Julie Miller and Ake Svanstedt have two each. One horse that is eligible but not in action is Breeders Crown winner Rebuff. Trainer Lucas Wallin relayed that the plan was always to skip the series and aim for the Hambletonian.

"He is probably going to qualify in June," said Wallin, who added that the colt's first start was still up in the air. "We are going to train him at the Meadowlands twice and then decide, but the Reynolds on the first of July [at the Meadowlands] looks like his first start. He's the type of horse that I don't think needs many starts before he'll be good."

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HAMBLETONIAN AND OAKS WINNERS IN ACTION

The road to the Hambletonian and Oaks is in the rearview mirror for a number of former winners, but they are still going strong and will compete Friday at the Meadowlands in a pair of $30,000 Miss Versatility races for older trotting mares. Leading the way is of course three-time millionaire and Hambletonian winner Atlanta, who made her first qualifier of the year a winning one on April 30 by storming home in 26 seconds to cap off a 1:56 mile.

"I don't think she could've been much better," said driver Yannick Gingras. "We were looking for a nice easy run for her. She didn't have that many fast miles before she qualified. Those slow miles and sprint home, she's as good as any horse as I've ever driven to do that kind of stuff."

Trained by Ron Burke for Crawford Farms Racing, Brad Grant and Howard Taylor, Atlanta is coming off a season in which she won six of 12 races and $440,949. Now 7, those who didn't see her eye-catching qualifying win may wonder if she can still compete with the best as she ages, but Gingras isn't one of them.

"She's bigger and stronger. She's not tall, obviously, but Ronnie [Burke] and I were talking that every year she comes back a couple of inches wider, and she looks like a real horse, that's for sure," said Gingras.

Atlanta (8-5) will start from post two in the tenth race second division while facing former Hambletonian Oaks winner When Dovescry (post one) and 2021 Ohio champion 3-year-old filly Herculisa (post six) among the seven-horse field.

The sixth-race Miss Versatility has the 2021 Oaks champion Bella Bellini as the 2-1 morning-line second choice behind last-out 1:51 4/5 winner Next Level Stuff (9-5) in her first start of the year. The Nifty Norman trainee looks to be coming into the race in good order after a pair of qualifiers.

"She's been very good in both qualifiers, and she is carrying a lot of weight, so the qualifiers were good for her. She put on more weight than me, which is hard to do," said Norman.

After winning 11 of 19 races last year with Dexter Dunn in the bike for owner Dave McDuffee, her typical off-the-pace plan will be in effect for Bella Bellini's (post two) 2022 debut.

"We are just going to race her off the back like we normally do and see how she trots home. She's a very good horse and if they go too fast she can run them down. A lot will come down to how the race is run, but I expect her to race really well," said Norman, who knows all too well how hard it can be for a 4-year-old to face older foes after he trained Bee A Magician to an undefeated 2013 season only to see her win just four of 17 starts in 2014.

"She's only a 4-year-old, and I've been there before with 4-year-olds versus aged horses. It is usually a tough year, so I'm not going to try to over-race her. I'm going to keep her in the 4-year-old races and the mare races. We are going to try to look after her and get as many quality starts as we can," said Norman.

All things considered and perhaps outside of Next Level Stuff, Friday's competition for Bella Bellini is light, as she faces three of her 4-year-old peers and a pair of older foes who earned less than $165,000 each in 2021.

Friday's Meadowlands action begins at 6:20 p.m. and launches a strong weekend of racing at the New Jersey oval. Saturday's card has multiple divisions of the Graduate series for 4-year-old pacers and trotters.