Meadowlands: Smedshammer, Butenschoen seek Hambletonian Oaks wins

With division leader Yo Tillie ineligible, the names of 23 trotting fillies were revealed on Tuesday when the box opened for Saturday's Hambletonian Oaks at the Meadowlands. Three $50,000 eliminations were necessary to pare down the field to 10 that will go behind the starting gate for the August 2nd $500,000 final. A pair of veteran trainers with plenty of experience in major trotting races will hope to find their spots with improving fillies that have yet to fully distinguish themselves in this class.

Trainer Trond Smedshammer's Windsong Legacy captured the 2004 Hambletonian on his way to a Triple Crown season, and he captured the Oaks in 2008 with Creamy Mimi. While he has Greenma in the first Hambletonian elimination in 2025, his best chance to end the long dry spell figures to be with the Walner-sired Walspea in the Oaks.

A winner just once in six starts as a freshman, Walspea has elevated her game this year with three wins in six starts. In her prep for the Oaks she finished a solid third behind Yo Tillie after starting from the second tier and racing parked out the entire mile.

"She was a bit temperamental as a 2-year-old," said Smedshammer of Walspea. "On the five-eighths track before the Del Miller she really finished out her mile strongly."

Though Smedshammer was somewhat satisfied with her final prep, he's concerned that his filly will keep her focus in the final quarter. "I'm hoping she can finish the same way on the mile track, but she hasn't shown that yet," said Smedshammer, cautiously optimistic that the best of Walspea is still to come and may arrive at within the next two starts.

Walspea landed post four in the second elimination (race nine), and that will put her inside one of the likely favorites in What A Bid Hanover (post six).

"I would say that Ake's (Svanstedt) two fillies are likely second and third behind Yo Tillie right now," said Smedshammer, pointing first to last year's Breeders Crown champion Lady Landia (race seven) and What A Bid Hanover.

Walspea need only finish in the top three to advance to final, or at worst be the highest purse earner of the three fourth-place finishers.

The eight-filly field has some of 2024's best 2-year-old fillies looking to find their footing as well, with Luna Lovegood (post one), a winner in five of her 10 starts as a freshman, making just her second start of the year and looking to bounce back in a good way following a break in stride in her Del Miller division.

Voguish (post two) was also a five-time winner as a freshman that has gone winless in three starts this season for trainer Andrew Harris.

Deja Blu (post three) brings a Hambletonian-like pedigree to the Oaks as a daughter of the 2018 Hambletonian champion Atlanta and by the 2009 winner Muscle Hill. That parentage needs to be respected, yet the Nancy Takter-trainee has missed the board in her last three starts.

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Trainer John Butenschoen sent out a Hambletonian Oaks elimination winner just a year ago when R Melina scored impressively, but he admits that neither of the two fillies he's entered in Saturday's contest can be compared. That said, R Dutchess (post one) faces just six rivals in the seventh race and first $50,000 elimination and would seem to be more than capable of reaching the final.

"We've prepped her for this race from the start," said Butenschoen of his and ownership's strategy to attempt to peak at the right time and then plan accordingly after the Oaks. "Everything has gone as planned other than we would have liked some of those second-place finishes to be wins."

Butenschoen has kept R Dutchess at the Meadowlands for her first four starts, with a win and three seconds in advance of the Oaks. "She's done everything we've asked of her," he said. "Last year she had some big races, but they didn't carry over to the next start. She roared by Champagne Problems (Peaceful Way elimination) but came up flat in the final."

Tim Tetrick guides R Dutchess with the benefit of the draw as Lady Landia and trainer-driver Ake Svanstedt starts from post seven as the logical favorite in this division. Lady Landia rallied from the back of the pack to be a solid second behind Yo Tillie in the Del Miller on July 12, her first start of the year following a pair of qualifiers. Svanstedt won the Oaks last year with Warrawee Michelle.

Lasting Dream was second to Maryland in last year's Mohawk Million but failed to qualify for the Breeders Crown when she last raced at the Meadowlands last fall. Trainer Luc Blais returns with the daughter of Cantab Hall from post two. Lasting Dream is also a daughter of Dream Together, the third place finisher in the 2017 Hambletonian Oaks behind Ariana G.

Butenschoen's second entry R Cee Cee (post three) in the final Oaks elimination carded as race 11 has won just one time in 12 career starts but has the confidence of both trainer and driver heading into Saturday's contest.

"We've been getting her ready for this race," said Butenscheon. "She was much better in her last start."

That race was a seventh-place finish on July 12 behind Yo Tillie in the Del Miller that inspired her ownership.

"I've had horses for the Paul's (M & L of Delaware) for 35 years," said Butenschoen. "One of the first horses I trained for them was a horse called Roz's Man. He was an Illinois-bred that won an Illinois-sired race at DuQuoin. His division was two seconds faster than the other, and I suggested we race him in an Illinois stake at Sportsman's Park in his next start. Ralph Paul wanted to race him in the American-National and told me to put him in."

Paul wanted to race against the best and wasn't afraid to put his money up to find out. Roz's Man would win that American- National, and Butenschoen would never again question ownership that wanted to race against the best no matter what the odds appeared.

R Cee Cee, a daughter of Googoo Gaagaa, is a full sister to the 2021 Hambletonian winner Captain Corey.

Conversano (post one) enters this elimination with five wins in seven starts this year for trainer Juan Cano. A filly by Muscle Hill, Conversano finished third in her Del Miller division on July 12 despite starting from post 10.

R Charm gives M & L of Delaware and Armitage Farm a second filly in the field, and this daughter of Propulsion is trending in the right direction for trainer Linda Toscano. R Charm drew post five for driver Scott Zeron.

Aperfect Annie was a top filly in Kentucky as a 2-year-old in 2024 and has returned to take on all comers in the Oaks for trainer Carter Pinske. Aperfect Annie landed post four.

The three Oaks eliminations are part of a power-packed card at the Meadowlands on Saturday that also features a trio of Hambletonian eliminations for 21 male trotters. Post time is 6:20 P.M. (EDT).