My picks for the 2-year-old Crown events.

by Brett Sturman

Of all the hexes this column has provided, the most recent column serving as a Breeders Crown preview may have served up the biggest of them all. A day after proclaiming Jiggy Jog S as one of two Dexter Dunn “locks” in the Breeders Crown, it was announced that one of the great trotting mares of our time was being retired due to injury and wouldn’t make it to the Breeders Crown. The other Dunn lock from that column, Twin B Joe Fresh, still is well positioned in her Crown division but did see her nine-race winning streak come to an end in rather surprising fashion in her elimination.

In something new, Friday’s (Oct. 18) eliminations were contested during the afternoon since The Meadowlands was racing thoroughbreds at night. I like the idea a lot of daytime elimination races; it gives things a different look. The thoroughbred’s race their Breeders’ Cup 2-year-old races Friday afternoon and it’s always well received, I wonder if the afternoon setup could be made more formal going forward. One drawback though was handle. Perhaps not everyone was fully aware of the unusual post time, and total handle across the 13-race card was $1,562,649. By comparison, when eliminations were last held at The Meadowlands in 2021 at night, the Friday handle over 12-races was $2,145,473.

As for the racing, the 2-year-old finals seem to be more well-defined than the 3-year-old and older divisions. But there were a couple of horses across the eliminations that were coming off strong performances at The Red Mile and not all their form translated when shipped north to The Meadowlands. It’s already been a long and windy season for some of these Breeders Crown freshmen and I’d let the odds dictate who I eventually go with, where depending on trips, things could go either way. Hoping to not jinx any of the connections with my endorsement, here are picks for who may take home the 2-year-old Breeders Crown races.

2-YEAR-OLD COLT PACE

The amazing thing here is that Dunn went into this division without a prior drive on any top contenders, but picked up a drive in each elimination, won both (one in a track record time), and now has his choice of the top two morning-line favorites for the final. Dunn picked up the drive on Captain Optimistic as it looks like Gingras had his choice between that one and Sippinonsearoc and opted for the latter. In his elimination, Captain Optimistic, beaten favorite in the Metro final, went down the road from his outside post 8 and repelled a late challenge to his inside from Railroad Station. In that race, Sippinonsearoc did all he could to close from off the pace into the fast race time. The highly regarded Louprint was fourth in that race, having raced first-over and was still trying towards the finish. In the other elimination, Swingtown and Dunn stormed from second-over right behind the 1-5 favored Fallout and always had the look of a confident winner. At the time of this print, Swingtown has drawn the post edge over Captain Optimistic but if I had to guess I’d predict Dunn will opt for Takter’s Captain Optimistic.

Picks: Captain Optimistic, Swingtown, Fallout

2-YEAR-OLD FILLY PACE

Looksgoodinloulou, coming off a second-place finish to Papi Grad two back and then an International Stallion Stake winner last out, kicked things off in the elimination races with a 1:48.4 track-record performance and wore down Miki And Minnie who raced pretty brave herself. Rodeo Drive Deo who also was coming off a pair of strong wins in Lexington, rode the winner’s cover and closed well to nail down second. Though her win was the slower of the two eliminations, The Last Martini raced giant. She came first over from sixth, eventually tracked off cover, that she may have not even needed, and surged late with a race best :26.2 final quarter to win. Longshot Duration tipped first-over near three-quarters and actually led the charge to go past the 1-5 favored Rose who couldn’t stave off the late challengers; will be interesting to see how she bounces back. Unreasonable raced well too in that elimination but drew towards the outside.

Picks: The Last Martini, Looksgoodinloulou, Rodeo Drive Deo

2-YEAR-OLD COLT TROT

The road here will go through Maryland, who had a bye into the final, and whose recent form in the Wellwood, Haughton and Mohawk Million would make him hard to go against. But elimination winner Maximum Mearas S could be one to watch and is developing quickly with only five starts now under his belt. He was able to turn the tables on Super Chapter who had beaten him prior at The Red Mile and surged late when angled off the rail from third to get up for the win in 1:52.4. Super Chapter came into The Meadowlands off a couple of big wins at The Red Mile but came up a little short at the end of his mile last week; is almost certain to lose Dunn also to Maryland. In that same elimination, the Melander-trained Blank was flying late up the rail at monster odds of 150-1. The earlier elimination that day took form as a three-horse breakaway and that’s the way they went around. Emoticon Legacy was strong late up the inside to get the win going away, while Hidalgo closed for third on the outside. In between those two was PASS champion Meshuggah, who was third in the Mohawk Million and has never been off the board in nine lifetime starts.

Picks: Maryland, Maximum Mearas S, Hidalgo

2-YEAR-OLD FILLY TROT

Once again, it’s going to be decision time for Dunn. Going into last week it would have seemed a formality that he would wind up on the bye-earning Champagne Problems — and he still might — but elimination winner Luna Lovegood has had to give him something to think about. Making her first start outside of The Red Mile, she left to be second, didn’t want to sit that position and retook ahead of 9-1 shot R Charm, and then poured it on through the stretch in a really impressive performance to win by over five lengths. What A Bid Hanover, who was making just her fourth career start, was shuffled and locked to the inside and actually had some good late trot once free to be second over Lasting Dream who had the initial jump on her. The two other elimination winners both enjoyed perfect pocket trips. One of those being Sound Judgement played the role of pocket rocket over Delaney Hanover who looked like a winner until the late stages; Miss Belmar closed from out of nowhere in the race to be third. The other pocketed trip winner was Lady Landia who bested Aperfect Annie who battled on well enough to lose only by a neck.

Picks: Luna Lovegood, What A Bid Hanover, Champagne Problems

In Saturday’s HRU (yes, we’re publishing Saturday, not Friday this week), I’ll have my picks for that night’s Crown finals.