TROTTER CLASSIC PHOTO DEVELOPS INTO A 2005 HAMBLETONIAN FAVORITE
Last year, trainer Ervin Miller entered the season with one of harness racing's more highly regarded three-year-old trotters, Photo Color, but failed to make it to the Hambletonian as the colt struggled with consistency. This year, Miller began the campaign with a relatively unknown trotter, Classic Photo, who now is one of the favorites to win the upcoming Hambletonian.
"That's one thing about trotters, they can get you a little frustrated, but it's pretty rewarding when they do well," Miller said.
Classic Photo won once in eight starts last year and was 90-1 in the season-ending Valley Victory Trot at the Meadowlands in December, where he finished second to Diesel Don. This year, Classic Photo has won five of eight races, including the $350,000 Stanley Dancer Trot on July 15, which is the final prep for the $1.7 million Hambletonian at the Meadowlands Racetrack (eliminations on July 30, final on August 6). He has won four straight races and earned $431,976 lifetime.
"As a two-year-old, he was a little immature and kind of a petite horse," said Miller, who has never had a Hambletonian entry. "He just wasn't filling out the way you like to see them. That's what took me so long to get him going; I was trying to let him grow up a little more."
Classic Photo failed to crack the Top 25 in Stan Bergstein's Experimental Championship Ratings for trotters, which attempt to predict the fastest three-year-old trotters of the year and ranks them according to projected times. Ken Warkentin led the list, followed by Diesel Don and Strong Yankee. In 2004, Miller's Photo Color ranked third.
In the Stanley Dancer Trot last Friday, favorite Classic Photo won by a length over Strong Yankee while longshot Vino Camielle was third, another length back. Diesel Don went off stride at the start of the race and finished 10th.
"Strong Yankee raced well the other day," Miller said, referring to the Trond Smedshammer-trainee who won last year's Matron Stakes for two-year-old male trotters. "He's kind of a bigger horse and might take a little longer to get ready. He might be rounding into shape at the right time, too."
Classic Photo, owned by Bill Wright, Jack and Peggy Hood and Mystical Marker Farms, also won the $277,101 Goodtimes at Woodbine in Ontario. Ron Pierce has driven Classic Photo in all five of his wins this season. Classic Photo won't race again until the Hambletonian elimination races on July 30.
"Let's knock on some wood and hope he stays good for another three weeks," Miller said. "I think he's got a shot to do some good if he stays healthy. It's hard to hold them [in form] for a long time, but we haven't had to do a whole lot with him so far. Hopefully, in the next couple weeks, he'll sharpen a little more. Some of the others can go the other way, too. But I think he'll stay as good as he is. He's raced on a sloppy track, raced up in Canada, had a couple different things happen to him, and been OK. He's as sound as any horse I've had. It doesn't take much work to keep him going."
Classic Photo was purchased as a yearling for $87,000 at the Kentucky Standardbred Sale in 2002. He is a half brother to Classic Response, who won the 2002 American-National for two-year-old male trotters. He is considered undersized compared to most of the other trotters that are eyeing the Hambletonian. One exception would be Ken Warkentin, the 2004 Dan Patch winner as best two-year-old male trotter, who also is considered small.
"He's actually a little taller than that other little horse that's probably going to be the favorite," Miller said, alluding to Ken Warkentin. "He might not be as thick. I'd say he's medium, maybe a little under medium, in height. He's not a broad horse, though, but maybe that works to our advantage. He is so flawlessly gaited. He's kind of got a spring to his trot, which might be because of his size. He's got an attitude that's unbelievable. He loves his work and he loves to race."
Ken Warkentin, who was scratched sick from the Dancer eliminations, returned to action in the three-year-old open trot on Friday night at the Meadowlands and won in 1:52.3 from post 10. The time was the second fastest of the year for a three-year-old, trailing only Great George Two's 1:52.1. Great George Two is not eligible to the Hambletonian.
As for being considered one of the horses to beat in the Hambletonian, Miller is comfortable with the role. "I've won a lot more races that way than any other way," he said with a laugh.
JATE DANIELS LOOKS TO BE TOAST OF THE TOWN IN AMERICAN-NATIONAL FINAL
No matter what happens with two-year-old colt pacer Jate Daniels in Saturday's $88,000 American-National at Balmoral Park, co-owner Judith Lunsford will consider it a gift. Jate Daniels, who was bred by Lunsford and her husband, Henry, is the last registered foal out of dam Midori, who died while giving birth in April. Her foal also died.
"It was just an unfortunate event for everything," Lunsford said. "There are a lot of things that happen in the horse business that are just like what happen in life. It would be a great story if Jate could capture something like this. But no matter what happens, [Midori] left us something pretty nice."
The Lunsfords bought Midori in 2002 on the recommendation of friend Dan Shetler. The couple has a 114-acre farm in Burgin, Kentucky, where they concentrate on breaking and training down young horses for clients. One of the colts with which they worked was Jate Lobell, Jate Daniels' sire, which is how they got connected with trainer-driver Mark O'Mara, who guided Jate Lobell to division honors in 1986 and 1987. Jate Daniels, driven by O'Mara and trained by Henry Lunsford, finished second to Nifty Fellow in 1:53.3 in the American-National elims on July 16. Intendto's Majesty was third followed by Roll Bar Hanover and Winbak Bini. Favorite Joe To Go failed to advance to the final, finishing seventh. In the second elim, Winslow Gambler won in 1:53.4, followed by Ab's Beach Boy, Keystone Resident, Life Guard On Duty and Jandj Art.
"It's real exciting," said Judith Lunsford, who owns Jate Daniels with Shirley LeVin of Schaumburg, Illinois. "If he keeps improving, we'll be OK. We've been taking him along slow because he's a little bit of a late foal. I don't want to think we can go in there and win, but if the breaks go right, if we draw a nice position, that's what will be most important."
Jate Daniels has raced four times this year, with his second-place finish in his American-National elim being his best finish. Henry Lunsford won a division of the 1973 American-National for two-year-old male pacers with Timely Objection. "He was a longshot," Judith Lunsford recalled. "Everyone battled up front and he just slipped through to win it."
Perhaps Jate Daniels will follow in those hoof prints. "He's the most nice-mannered colt to be around," Lunsford said. "He's very relaxed in everything he's done. He's not studdy at all. We thought he was too good to be true. As good mannered as he is, we thought if he had speed that he would be the whole package. We're kind of getting that."
QUICK BRUSHES: The Artsplace two-year-old pacing colts Artstanding was the winner of the $175,000 New Jersey Sires Stakes final last week at The Meadowlands and his co-owner Bob Gorney was in the winner's circle with a dozen or so friends. Gorney, of Jackson, NJ, is a graduate of a USTA-sponsored seminar for prospective new horse owners in 2002. This is the richest race ever won by a seminar graduate, with about 150 of them now in the sport as owners. Gorney attended a seminar on yearling pedigree and conformation analysis and later brought in a friend, Jim Switlyk, and together the two bought their first yearling at the Standardbred Horse sale in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, last fall. ... The next seminars will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana (July 30), Monticello, New York (July 31) and Columbus, Ohio (August 20). Yearling seminars will be held September 10 in New Jersey and November 5 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. For information on attending them, contact Ellen Harvey at 732-780-3700 or HRCNews@ustrotting.com.
RIBBONS IN THE PINK: The three-year-old trotting filly Pink Ribbons, whose owners, breast cancer survivors June White and Nancy Greenfield donate 10% of her earnings to a cancer support center in Toledo, Ohio, put another $8,750 in that group's account on July 15. Her second place (by a nose) finish to Margarita Nights, in the Del Miller Memorial, will also mean a shot at the $750,000 the Hambletonian Oaks (eliminations on July 30, final on August 6 at The Meadowlands). So far, she has won $13,921 for the small center, which relies on a handful of fundraisers to keep going.
The Center's staff and clients keep track of Pink Ribbons through a bulletin board, which bears her photos and clippings of her exploits and watching her races on streaming video. "I thought she had it won," said Victory Center staffer Lora Johnson of her July 15 race. "I was yelling 'Come on, go!' at the computer." Johnson says there is no specific designated use for the funds yet. "Everybody here knows about the nice check we'll be getting, but I don't think it's really sunk in yet. It is so hard to get grants nowadays and if we didn't have our fundraisers and now Pink Ribbons, it would be really hard to keep going. The board really wants us out of this building. We are attached to a gas station. We have had the air quality tested four times, there is nothing that will harm anybody, but on certain days, the fumes in here aren't the greatest. The people that we rent from have been wonderful, though. We did start an endowment campaign, so... we'll have to think about putting that [Pink Ribbons] money in an endowment fund which will someday get us a building."
UPCOMING RACES:
July 22 - Tarport Hap - 3yo filly pace - $150,000 - The Meadowlands
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