Meadowlands: Zenith Stride surprises in Peter Haughton Memorial

Trainer Mark Harder is no stranger to pulling surprises in big races at the Meadowlands, having once won the Meadowlands Pace with Holborn Hanover at 58-1, and he pulled the trick again in Saturday's $319,000 Peter Haughton Memorial final for rookie trotting colts and geldings, delivering with Zenith Stride at 85-1.

Race favorite and elimination winner Plumville Prince (Scott Zeron) broke prior to the start of the race, so Moonstone (Tim Tetrick), a Swedish-bred son of Muscle Hill, zipped to the top from post seven and carved out an opening quarter of 28 seconds flat. Type A (Yannick Gingras) was two-wide and moving up at that point, with Venerate (Andy Miller) tracking them on the inside and Zenith Stride (Brian Sears) behind Venerate.

Type A was able to wrestle the lead away from Moonstone in the second quarter, but Moonstone immediately re-moved after yielding, and then Type A made a break after the 57 second half-mile point, leaving Venerate half-in/half-out in the pocket and Zenith Stride still stalking him. Venerate fully committed to the two-wide path prior to the 1:25 3/5 three-quarters, and Zenith Stride readily accepted the cover.

In the lane Moonstone and Venerate battled for the lead, but Sears cut Zenith Stride loose three-wide, and he was full of trot finishing, blowing by the top two on his way to a pretty easy victory in 1:55 1/5. Moonstone kept Venerate at bay for second, followed by Media Mogul (Andrew McCarthy), and Locatelli (Dexter Dunn).

"I liked this colt the first time I sat behind him. He had few issues, made a few breaks, but I never lost confidence in him," remarked Sears. "I knew once he matured a little bit, he'd come around and be the horse we thought he was."

Zenith Stride is a Muscle Hill colt owned by Emilio and Maria Rosati. Zenith Stride, who was bred by Fair Winds Farm Inc. and fetched $350,000 at last year's Standardbred Horse Sale, broke his maiden in his fourth attempt and returned $177.00 to win. Zenith Stride is the first foal out of the Credit Winner mare Open Access ($113,438, 1:54 1/5), a full sister to Dejarmbro (1:52 2/5, $1,137,493).