by Dean Towers

Saturday’s (Aug. 5) Hambletonian Day card is one of our favorite days of the year in harness racing, and I’m again happy to share my thoughts, race by race, minute by minute on this wonderful set of races.

The card kicked off with a bang. Analyst Gabe Prewitt, as did I, wondered if Stonebridge Helios would be ready off a month break and that was answered quickly with an easy blow-out win. Ontario-based trainer John Pentland, who developed this lovely horse, puts a good foundation under his young ones as a rule, so it makes me wonder – at only 4 and looking so sound and sharp, how good can Helios be?

It’s not a newsflash, but the drivers at The Meadowlands are the best in the business. Last week, Brian Sears gained a tactical advantage against Sylvia Hanover with a masterful drive and couldn’t beat her. In the Shady Daisy, it was a two-pronged driver attack with Todd McCarthy opening up on the lead, and Joe Bongiorno executing his game plan on Sylvia’s back. Again, it didn’t matter. She’s just a tremendous filly.

I’m beginning to think this Burke fellow might know how to train a horse. M M’s Dream could barely function up at Woodbine Mohawk Park, but they regrouped, took the shoes off for the Maturity and slayed the dragon that is Jiggy Jog. Then they returned and did it again in the Steele in a 1:50 smasher. That’s some really good work.

If we talk a little betting in the Continentalvictory, it was a deemed spread race in the Pick 6, with Quick Stop coming off a break for no apparent reason, and Bella Macchiato in similar stead. And that’s exactly the way it went. Tactical Mounds, a part of Thestable.ca team, was a popular winner with multiple owners. It must have been a lot of fun for that group to win a stakes race on Hambletonian Day.

Silver Label was sensational in the Lady Liberty. I’ve followed her since she was 2 and although I’ve always liked her, I never thought she was an open mare. It sure is nice to be wrong, because owner George Millar has been at this a long, long time, and he’s always played the game the right way. Way to go George and trainer Nick Gallucci.

Harness racing is a speed game, but too much speed and we get to witness fantastic finishes like this year’s Hambletonian Oaks. The :53.2 half set up a beautiful sweep of the field for the Marcus Melander-trained Heaven Hanover. The daughter of Father Patrick sailed with no shoes in the Del Miller two weeks ago while upsetting Bond, and followed that up with the biggest victory of her career.

In the Cashman, the closer parade continued with a photo finish between winner It’s Academic and Venerate. Tim Tetrick, fresh off his Oaks win, controlled the pace nicely with Rattle My Cage to no avail. If we hadn’t seen some handy wire to wire winners earlier on the card, we might be thinking the front-end is soft.

As an aside, you may be surprised that neither Venerate or It’s Academic ended up as the favorite. Southwind Tyrion, despite being 5-1 throughout the betting, went to 2-1 last flash. As a friend noted to me on text, “it’s the power of the computer teams.” Even on large handle days like Hambletonian Day they’re sending it in.

Tactical Approach won the Hambletonian in the opposite way from earlier this season when he was overpowering them. Scott Zeron was simply tactical.

It was an interesting race where the fractions were nowhere near taxing, which often results in a wire-to-wire, pocket or first-up winner, but that never came.

This was a fascinating Hambletonian run-up, in my view. Tactical Approach was beating his class fairly handily early, but there was always the nagging feeling that better horses were waiting in the wings, ready to move forward to take the Crown. The early season star certainly had something to say about that. A big congrats to Nancy Takter for having this fast colt good for such an extended period of time.

Perhaps Ron Burke and team are thinking they’re snake bit. Yannick Gingras had Celebrity Bambino on top in a :56 with no pressure going for a million, and the horse simply didn’t fire home. They’ll get theirs at some point, and this game isn’t for the faint of heart, but it has to be disappointing.

A shout out is warranted to trainer Noel Daley for the sweep of the New Jersey Sires Stakes Finals with Sig Sauer and Buy a Round. I’ve always thought Noel was a terrific conditioner of young horses and this year’s select few who have started have all been firing.

There’s been a lot of debate about the Hambletonian poll lately with both Sylvia Hanover and Confederate laying some claim to the top spot, but I wonder if the door may be closed for the filly. In the sport’s glamour division I’m not sure we’ve seen a more dominant colt in some time than Confederate. I thought his Cane Pace victory was jaw dropping. He made some pretty fast pacers look ordinary.

In the second Sam McKee Memorial division Bythemissal got back on track while the speed show of older talent continued. I bet Sam would’ve loved every second of it.

I hope you enjoyed your Hambletonian Day as much as I did. I’m lighter in the wallet because I didn’t hit much, but on days with this kind of harness racing entertainment, it’s just fine.