Meadowlands Barn Notes - Thursday, July 22

RAINBOW BLUE & KIKIKATIE FINALLY MEET!

Rainbow Blue and Kikikatie, who have compiled matching records of 16 wins in 17 career starts, will meet for the first time on Friday night at the Meadowlands.

The blacktop for this brawl is the sixth race, the first of two $81,600 divisions of the Tarport Hap for three-year-old pacing fillies.

Kikikatie leaves from post four with David Miller driving and is rated 3-1 in the morning. Rainbow Blue, winner of 14 straight races, drew post seven with Ron Pierce in the sulky and is listed at 2-1.

"I get reminded quite often about Rainbow Blue," conceded Joe Seekman, who trains Kikikatie. "No doubt this will be a tremendous match up, and I'm sure they're both ready to put forth a strong effort. Hopefully, at the end of the season with only two starts, we'll be fresher."
The two fillies have taken different paths to the Tarport Hap.

Rainbow Blue has been racing steadily since April, compiling a record of 10 wins in 10 starts this year. She opened her sophomore campaign with a sweep of the three-week Blossom Series at the Meadowlands, including the $73,760 final on April 24. She spent two weeks in May, snagging the elimination race and $100,000 final of the Roses Are Red at Hazel Park. Back at the Meadowlands in June, she won all three legs of the New Jersey Sire Stakes, including the $150,000 final on July 3. Her last start was a nine and a half-length tally at Rosecroft Raceway on July 10.

At two, the daughter of Artiscape - Vesta Blue Chip opened her career with a win in a $54,500 division of the Debutante Stakes during Historic Week at the Meadowlands. She suffered her only career loss in her third start, the $150,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Final, finishing third by a neck behind Whig Party and Gina Spur. Since then, she has been flawless, banking a total of $368,619 for K&R Racing LLC and Teague Inc, both of Houston, Delaware. She is trained by co-owner George Teague Jr.

Kikikatie, by Real Artist - Katies Lucky Lady, has made only two starts this year, winning a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes on June 18 at the Meadows and the $122,000 final of the American National on July 3 at Balmoral Park.

She had not raced since suffering her only loss, a second by a neck to Pans Culottes in the $470,000 Breeders Crown for two-year-old pacing fillies on November 29, 2003 at the Meadowlands.

That was the only mar in the championship season of Kikikatie, during which she earned $788,044. She won 14 straight races at two, including the $568,172 She's A Great Lady at Woodbine on August 29, the $115,000 Bluegrass at the Red Mile on September 24, the $100,000 Pennsylvania Championship Final on October 18 and the $225,000 Matron Stakes at Dover Downs on November 8. She made only two starts over the racing surface at the Meadowlands, a win in the Breeders Crown elims on November 21 and her end-of-year loss in the final.

Kikikatie was a nearly unanimous choice as the Dan Patch Award winner as Two-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the Year in 2003.

"We're very happy with the way Kikikatie has come back this year," said Seekman, who trains the filly for Lee and Linda DeVisser of Holland, Michigan. "We didn't bring here back until last month because we didn't want to overstake her. She just qualified real good at Hawthorne. She couldn't have been any sharper in her two wins, and she's ready to go.

"We took our time with her bringing her back, late June or early July was the plan all along," said Seekman, who is based in Centerville, Michigan. "It's been smooth sailing so far. She's got the same attitude that she had last year. She loves what she is doing. She's a little bigger, wider, strong and taller. She'll be [at the Meadowlands] for the Mistletoe Shalee, also. I hope she's ready for a big month there."

HARDER TRIES TWO FORMER CLAIMERS IN THE BREEDERS CROWN

After winning the Meadowlands Pace in his first try and battling for the lead in the trainers race, New Zealand-born trainer Mark Harder will send out two former claimers in Saturday's eliminations for the $552,500 Breeders Crown Open Pace, one of a quartet of older horse finals which will be contested on July 31 at the Meadowlands.

Camcracker drew post two in the first $50,000 division, the third race, and Eaton Road Kill leaves from post six in the fifth race. The top five from each advance.

Camcracker, an eight-year-old son of Cambest, has finished in the money in eight of 20 starts this year and banked $146,301 toward a career total of $934,659 for owners Aubrey Friedman and Brian Nixon, who claimed him for $75,000 on June 30, 2001 at the Meadowlands. He is rated 15-1 with Mark McDonald driving and faces, among others, the Haughton winner Four Starzzz Shark, listed at 2-5 from the rail.

"Camcracker has been struggling against those horses, and we're starting to look at possible deals for him to stand at stud," said Harder. "Obviously, he's not going to be that commercial in New Jersey or places like that. Maybe he'll go Down Under."
Eaton Road Kill was the sole supplement in this year's Breeders Crown, costing owner Gregg Pistochini $62,500 to enter. He is the 8-5 favorite with Daniel Dube in the sulky in the second division. The six-year-old Cambest gelding has back-to-back sub-1:49 wins, including a world record equaling 1:48 flat on July 3 at the Meadowlands.

"When Eaton Road Kill came here, we didn't think he'd amount to what he has," said Harder. "He deserves a shot, and the owner was happy to supplement him. He has raced on the lead for a while, but I think he can come from off the pace, too. He's peaking, but he's really been good all year long."

Eaton Road Kill has 12 wins, four seconds and one third in 20 starts this year, earning $366,568 toward a career total of $522,070. Pistochini claimed him for $62,500 in California in November of 2002.

Harder's extraordinary season hit its apex last Saturday when his entrants, Holborn Hanover and Camelot Hall, finished first and fourth, respectively, in the $1 million Meadowlands Pace.
At 58-1, Holborn Hanover was the longest priced horse to win the track's signature event for three-year-old pacers.

"Camelot Hall is probably not going to race until the Oliver Wendell Holmes [on August 7]," Harder said. "Holborn Hanover will race once before the Holmes. They both seem good coming out of the Meadowlands Pace.

"My mother and father were here for a month visiting up until the Wednesday before the Pace," he noted. "Before their flight, I didn't think I had a Pace winner. It absolutely meant a lot to me with the race being simulcast to New Zealand, and all of my friends and family got to see it."
Harder is engaged in a spirited duel for leading trainer of the meet with Noel Daley. He comes into the July 22 program with 98 wins to Daley's 97.

"As far as the trainers' race is concerned, that's just something that would be nice to win, but I'm not doing anything different just to win a title," he said. "I am very grateful because I know you've got to be given the chance with the right horses. I work hard and I try to do the job right, and it's gotten me to where I am today."