Meadowlands: Southwind Chaska hopes to speed into Hambletonian Oaks final

Southwind Chaska produced the best performance of her season when she raced at the Meadowlands three weeks ago, and trainer Jim Oscarsson thinks that should bode well for his filly’s next visit to the Big M for Saturday’s Hambletonian Oaks eliminations.

Southwind Chaska, a multiple graded stakes winner and fastest 2-year-old female trotter (1:51 4/5) of 2025, will compete in the third of three $50,175 elims for the Hambletonian Oaks, for 3-year-old female trotters, on Saturday. The top three finishers from each elim plus the fourth-place finisher with the highest lifetime earnings will advance to the $500,000 Grade 1 Hambletonian Oaks final on Hambletonian Day, Aug. 8, at the Meadowlands.

In her most recent start, on July 11 at the Big M, Southwind Chaska came her last quarter in a race-best 26 3/5 to rally for a second-place finish behind Nezuko Kamado S in a division of the Grade 2 Del Miller Memorial. Southwind Chaska was a half-length behind the winner in a race timed in 1:50 1/5 – the fastest mile of the year for sophomore filly trotters.

“She was really good in her last start,” said Oscarsson, who saw Southwind Chaska’s only two previous races this season end with a sixth-place finish in a preliminary leg of the New Jersey Sire Stakes on June 5 at the Meadowlands and a third-place finish in a conditioned race against older male rivals on June 20 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania.

“She trained good all winter, I was happy with her, but she was a little bit too heavy at the start of the season and was not too good the first two starts. I think she needed those two races. I think she is in good shape now. I’m looking forward to Saturday to see what she can do.”

Southwind Chaska is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in her Hambletonian Oaks elimination, which also includes 2025 Dan Patch Award winner Setyoursightshigh, Victorianas Secret, and Leading Lady. Setyoursightshigh defeated Leading Lady by a neck in the Grade 2 Dr. Harry M. Zweig Memorial Filly Trot at Vernon Downs on July 19, one day after Victorianas Secret won the Grade 3 Moni Maker Stakes at Eldorado Scioto Downs.

Tim Tetrick will be in the sulky behind Southwind Chaska, who leaves from post 3 in the seven-filly field.

“She has a good post,” Oscarsson said. “If she has a good day, she can beat them; she’s a really good horse. I’m happy to have her.”

A daughter of Tactical Landing-Southwind Chai, Southwind Chaska was purchased for $15,000 at the 2024 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale. Last year, she hit the board in 10 of 13 races, winning six, and earned $245,842. Her victories included divisions of the Bluegrass (in her 1:51 4/5 mile) and International Stallion stakes, both Grade 3, at Lexington’s Red Mile.

“She’s a strong, speedy horse,” said Oscarsson, who trains Southwind Chaska for the ownership group of Oscarsson Racing Stable, John Cummins, and Sven H Racing. “She grew a lot (over the winter). She’s more of a horse. I’m happy about that.

“If she has a helmet to follow, she can go fast in the last quarter. But (last year) in Kentucky, she was on the lead, and she was really nice too.”

The third Hambletonian Oaks elimination is race 6.

In the first elim (race 1), Jailbird Jog is the 8-5 morning-line favorite for driver James MacDonald and trainer Jason McGinnis. She will leave from post 4. The daughter of Tactical Landing-Miss Don Fanucci S has five wins and two seconds in eight races this season, with her victories including the inaugural Oak Grove Trotting Oaks on May 16 at Oak Grove Racing & Gaming, her division of the Del Miller Memorial on July 11, and the Tompkins-Geers Stakes in a career-best 1:51 2/5 on July 25 at the Meadowlands.

Nezuko Kamado S is the 9-5 morning-line favorite in the second elimination (race 4) for driver Scott Zeron and trainer Marcus Melander. The daughter of Chapter Seven-Zefira Kronos IT is unbeaten in four races this year.

Also on Saturday, the Meadowlands will host two eliminations for America’s Trotting Classic, the Hambletonian Stakes, with the top five finishers from each elim returning for the $1 million Grade 1 final on Aug. 8. Dan Patch Award winner Apex is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the first (race 7) and Big Ranger, Ohio’s 2025 Horse of the Year, is the 3-1 choice in the second (race 9).

Racing begins at 6:20 p.m. (EDT).