Improved grades for 2025 Kindergarten Classic Series
by Debbie Little
As the fourth leg of the Kindergarten Classic Series rolls into The Meadowlands tonight (Sept. 12), it’s obvious that the event is aiming to get back to its roots.
The series’ inception was initially imagined as a way to insure races for male and female freshmen of both gaits that started a little later in the season. It was not designed for the elite performers.
Trainer Ray Schnittker competed in the series in its debut year of 2006 and won the final for 2-year-old colt trotters in 2007 (with Andover America) and colt pacers in 2008 (One More Laugh).
“It’s a good series, good concept, I thought,” Schnittker said. “When it first came around it was good, because it was at Vernon and Tioga and The Meadowlands. It might even have been at The Red Mile, maybe.
“My thing was being in New York, if you get a trotter that doesn’t like a half-mile track, at least you could go to [the Kindergarten legs]; they’re all on the bigger tracks. And then you had the final, and it was at Vernon back in the day. Because if you get one now, and they just can’t quite get around a half, it gets so frustrating, because you’re kind of trying to put a round ball in a square hole.”
That first year, the six legs — raced at either Tioga Downs or Vernon Downs — went for $10,000 with all four finals raced at Vernon with purses ranging between $58,000 and $85,000.
In 2008, The Meadowlands played host to a couple of Kindergarten legs, but the finals were still contested at either Tioga or Vernon.
Between 2006 and 2009, the purses for the finals went up by around $20,000, but then some big changes took place.
For the next six years (2010-15), the pacers were dropped and the finals purses ballooned, hitting a then-series high in 2014 of $240,500 for the colt trotters and $251,100 for the filly trotters.
It comes as no surprise that with more money on the table, the quality of the competition rose, with finals champions like French Laundry, Gym Tan Laundry, Manofmanymissions, and Southwind Spirit.
In 2016, the pacers were back, but the level of competition only continued to increase when the Kindergarten finals moved to The Meadowlands, with Someomensomewhere and Walner among the champs crowned that year.
“The last few years, [the Kindergarten competitors have] been as good as any horses in the country,” Schnittker said.
To illustrate his point, in the previous five years, seven Kindergarten finals champs have also been crowned Dan Patch 2-year-old champs: Anoka Hanover and Fire Start Hanover in 2020, Niki Hill (2021), Volume Eight (2022), Karl (2023), and Champagne Problems and Maryland in 2024.
Although Schnittker does have some horses eligible to this year’s Kindergarten — his pacing filly Bucked Up has a start in the series — he doesn’t enter as often as he used to prior to the finals being contested at The Meadowlands, because he said he liked the fact that some legs used to take place at Tioga and Vernon, in addition to The Big M.
“Sometimes by moving [the races] around, you’ve got a shot of people racing horses in the area [near Vernon or Tioga]… I think to go to The Meadowlands, they’re not putting them in there,” he said. “So, [by racing legs at Tioga and Vernon] it doesn’t turn into like the Tony Alagna, or Andrew Harris show, you know?”
According to a press release sent by The Meadowlands earlier this year, “The 2025 finals have been set at $125,000 guaranteed, which means they will be raced for exactly that amount. The possibility for a consolation still exists.
“The revenue from payments that had been included in the finals purse has been redistributed over the legs. Thus, the purse for each has been increased to $25,000. The five legs will be spread over four months with the finals on November 1.
“These revisions should assure nominators races for 2-year-olds that need starts, be it getting started, between stakes, or to try and level up to the various Grand Circuit stakes, without having to be concerned about finding a spot or facing older horses.”
As a point of reference, in 2024, the lowest Kindergarten purse was $148,500 (colt pace), while the highest was $243,400 (filly trotters).
One thing about the Kindergarten that hasn’t changed, according to the conditions, is that a horse must race in 50 per cent of the preliminary legs to be guaranteed eligibility for the final. However, should the finals not fill, those with fewer than the required three of five starts, will be considered, with the highest point earners getting preference.
Many horses have won Kindergarten finals having only competed in two legs, and in some cases, less than that.
“The Kindergarten, it’s a great concept,” Schnittker said. “It gives everybody more races; you need opportunities to race.
“Mid-level, that’s what it should have been for, kind of like the [New York] Excelsior Series horses. That’s what I thought originally it was like. And then you might have a horse that came on late, or had an injury, or was sick or had some kind of stuff early. That’s what it was made for.”
