Meadowlands: Tactical Approach rides the rail to Hambletonian glory

Tactical Approach made post ten two-for-two in the Hambletonian and Hambletonian Oaks on Saturday afternoon at the Meadowlands by staying on the cones throughout and getting up late in the 1:50 3/5 mile to win the $1 million classic for 3-year-old trotters at odds of 12-1. He was the third Hambletonian champion for driver Scott Zeron and the first for trainer Nancy Takter.

Elimination winner Point Of Perfect (David Miller) fired out from post five and showed the way early on, but fellow Ron Burke trainee and elimination victor Celebrity Bambino (Yannick Gingras) was out and on the move from third on the opening turn, and he would take the lead past the 27 4/5 opening quarter. Celebrity Bambino then got to the half in just 56 seconds as Oh Well (Tim Tetrick) began a first-over march out of the fourth position, giving cover to Winner's Bet (Dexter Dunn), Osceola (Doug McNair) and Southwind Coors (James MacDonald). While that was going on up front, Tactical Approach advanced to sixth on the inside and continued to bide his time.

Oh Well and Celebrity Bambino hooked up in a duel around the final bend and were eyeball-to-eyeball at the 1:23 1/5 three-quarters as Winner's Bet flattened out from second-over and a new player emerged in MGM Yonkers Trot champion Up Your Deo (Ake Svanstedt), who was able to slip out into the third-over position when Osceola gapped and broke, then fanned out three-wide for the drive.

Late on the turn Oh Well went by Celebrity Bambino for good looked to go on to the victory, but Tactical Approach was full of trot after the inside ride, surged past Oh Well inside the final eighth, and went on to the victory by a length. Up Your Deo loomed to mid-stretch but was out-kicked and wound up third, followed by Celebrity Bambino and Point Of Perfect.

"Unexpected, just based on the post, not the horse," Zeron said after the race. "He's actually been great for me. If you told me two months ago I'd win the Hambo with him, I'd have believed you. We just hadn't had the right momentum coming into the race. I overdrove him a bunch of times, and today we were going to underdrive him, and he thanked me down the lane.

"I just saw everyone protecting the two-wide path middle of the first turn, and I just knew it was going to be fifth-over, sixth-over, so I just elected to go left. We're going for a million dollars, so everyone's going to give their horse a chance. I was really just trying to underdrive mine and hope to get a good portion of it. Turning for home, being as close as I was was best-case scenario."

For Takter, she joined her father Jimmy as a Hambletonian-winning trainer and said she's been high on Tactical Approach's chances going back to when he was just a yearling.

"I always kept the faith. I loved this colt from the first moment I saw him at Hunterton as a baby, and I remember telling my dad I found the colt that I'm going to buy. Then he only brought $85,000, which is a bargain for us at this point. He was very immature last year, but the partners were very easy to work with and we just gave him the time that he needed," Takter recalled. "He came back this year so strong. Scott has done an excellent job driving him and today was perfect proof of that. Great job to my entire team, his caretaker Sergio has done a great job with him. Proud of everybody and definitely proud of the colt, he gets all the credit.

"At first when they were leaving the gate I was like oh no, we're getting away last, but then the rail just kept opening up. They only went 56 to the half and I'm like this is not good, this is not good, this is not good, they're not going fast enough, but he just kept going down the rail. It worked out great and I was confident going down the stretch that if he had enough room he was going to get it done."

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A Tactical Landing colt, Tactical Approach is owned by John Fielding, Robert Leblanc and Joe Sbrocco and JAF Racing. This was his sixth win from 14 career starts, he has now earned $617,989, and he paid $26.80 to win. Tactical Approach is out of the Donato Hanover mare Sarcy, who was third in her elimination and fifth in the final of the 2015 Hambletonian Oaks while trained by Jimmy Takter.

For many of her owners, they've tasted Hambletonian success before but were overjoyed to be back in the winner's circle again after the race.

"This is cool and it never gets old. You think about how many horses start out with a dream of even making the race. We got the ten-hole. Nancy and Scotty said don't worry, this horse has got it. We get the trip, he's going to be in there," said Leblanc. "This is fantastic. Kudos to Nancy and her whole team for just an awesome job of getting us here. This is a lot of fun.

Fielding added, "He did it from a long way back. He was fantastic. As Robert says, we were a little disenchanted with the ten-hole, but it worked to our advantage by the looks of it. It's a great thrill. We're all going to enjoy this later."

John Fodera remarked, "It's living a dream. I'm so thankful to Jimmy Takter for all he's done for me in the past, and now for Nancy to take over that tradition, it's just been great," and Joe Sbrocco, who was a newcomer to Hambletonian glory, beamed, "I've never won the Hambo before, but I want to thank Nancy and her dad and the whole Takter team. They've done a great job and Scotty is my number ten man."

This was the third Hambletonian champion bred by Steve and Cindy Stewart's Hunterton Farms, and he shares breeding credit with Indiana's Oakwood Farms.

"I don't think I was expecting it. That's our third one and we didn't expect it on any of the three of them. The funny part is we were the 3-5 favorite last year and finished sixth with Rebuff. That's how life works sometimes," Stewart noted. "When Forbidden Trade won, I was watching another horse we bred along the rail of Tony Alagna's, Pilot Discretion, and today I was watching Point Of Perfect that we raised, we didn't breed. I was watching him, and Cindy goes it's a horse coming up the rail. Then with Trixton, the whole talk that year was all Father Patrick, Father Patrick, Father Patrick. He makes a break and then we win, and beat Nuncio coming down the lane. It never gets old that's for sure. Amazing, amazing, number three."

HAMBO DAY HANDLE UP OVER LAST YEAR: Hambletonian Day handle established a new record in the 10-year history of the new grandstand at the Meadowlands, as a total of $7,805,779 was pushed through the windows on the 16-race program Saturday, by far a 2023 industry high.

"We are so pleased and proud of this milestone," said Big M Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Jason Settlemoir. "The handle, the crowd that we had at the track, the national television exposure we got from being shown on FOX SPORTS, all of these things made for yet another great Hambletonian Day at the Meadowlands."

A year ago, total handle was $7,656,055. All betting numbers shown reflect North American wagering only.

Betting on the Hambletonian itself was up considerably from a year ago as $1,099,034 was put in play, a 12 percent increase over 2022.

Betting for the year is ahead of 2021, when average daily handle was just a hair more than $3 million per card. Thus far this year, a total of $203,794,252 has been bet on races at the Meadowlands, good for an average per card of $3,234,829.

A LITTLE MORE: Yannick Gingras's 104 wins and Ron Burke's 85 led the driver and trainer standings, respectively, at the Winter-Spring Championship meet, which began on Jan. 6...the Meadowlands will go dark for three weeks before resuming with live harness racing on Friday, Sept. 1...Simulcasting will continue daily.

--handle and other stats courtesy of the Meadowlands--