Could the Breeders Crown provide another Super Chapter to Melander’s career?
The sophomore trotting colt could win divisional honors with a victory. Meanwhile, a win by one of Melander’s other two finalists — Maryland or Meshuggah — would prove significant.
by Debbie Little
Divisional honors could all come down to the Breeders Crown for Super Chapter, one of a trio of 3-year-old trotting colts the New Jersey-based trainer Marcus Melander is sending out tonight (Oct. 26) in race 6 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Leading the Melander-trained troika is the Dexter Dunn-driven Super Chapter (post 2, 5-2 morning-line second choice). The son of Chapter Seven out of the Cantab Hall mare Lifetime Pursuit has over $1.4 million in earnings this season and included among his eight victories in 12 sophomore starts worth $300,000 or more are the Yonkers Trot, Earl Beal Jr. Memorial, and KYSS final.
“I mean, obviously, Super Chapter has had a great season so far,” Melander said. “You know, he had a great season last year, too, to be honest. He was the second-most winning one [after Maryland]… He’s been doing great all year and never really disappointed or anything. So, he’s having a great year and drew well, and, hopefully, he’ll finish off the year strong here.”
Super Chapter will be taking on the current top-ranked colt in the division, according to the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll, Emoticon Legacy (post 4, 8-5 morning-line favorite) for trainer Luc Blais and driver Louis-Philippe Roy.
Emoticon Legacy has over $1.3 million in earnings this season with seven wins in nine starts, including the Kentucky Futurity, Canadian Trotting Classic, and Zweig Memorial, worth $300,000 or more.
Third choice on the morning line behind Emoticon Legacy and Super Chapter is the Melander-trained Maryland (post 3, 3-1), who will be driven by Yannick Gingras.
Maryland, a son of Chapter Seven out of the Father Patrick mare Crucial, although winless this year (0-6-1 in eight starts), has still banked $670,171.
“I mean, to be honest, he’s having a good season overall, and he still made a lot of money,” Melander said of Maryland. “Of course, that big win is missing, but, you know, it’s not that easy. Even if you’re a dominant 2-year-old, a lot can happen from 2 to 3 with some of the other horses that develop. Because he was racing against these horses, and he was so dominant at 2 against them, and he produced as a 2-year-old, while maybe some other horses weren’t really ready to go those kind of times. So that says a lot about him as a horse, because he was the fastest one and made the most money last year. He went [1]:51.4 last year, and has been in [1]:49.2 this year. Even if he hasn’t won in [1]:49.2, he still went that at The Red Mile last time. So, I think he’s been having a good year; he’s just missing a win, and, hopefully, he can get it on Saturday. But it’s a tough group of 3-year-olds. It’s a very good 3-year-old crop, so it’s not that easy to just go out in the race and just win like he did last year.”
Maryland made over $1.6 million a season ago on his way to year-end Dan Patch and O’Brien honors, and although the colt is still looking for that first win of the year, Melander is not frustrated.
“I mean, the horse is racing great,” he said. “It’s one thing if he’s not racing well and finishes fourth or fifth every week and there’s no power there, but I mean he races so well, so, I just feel for the horse that he doesn’t get a win. For me, I know he gives it all, and he knows he gives it all, I guess I think he deserves a win. Like I said, I think he’s racing great every start he’s done this year. If he would have showed up every week and finished fourth, fifth, makes breaks or whatever, then it would be frustrating, but I know he gives it all. You just need a little bit of racing luck as well in this game. So, I’ve been happy with how he’s been racing this year, just unfortunately, he hasn’t gotten that win yet.”
Maryland’s win almost came in the Kentucky Futurity, where after starting from the second tier with a brutal trip, he closed from eighth at the top of the stretch to finish just a neck behind Emoticon Legacy and a neck in front of his stablemate, Super Chapter.
“[Maryland] raced fantastic, as did Emoticon Legacy, he had a tough race as well,” Melander said. “[Maryland] gave it all, he deserved that win, too. So, I mean, I was obviously very happy with Maryland, and how he raced. So, I think he’s in good form, so, hopefully, he can get it done [tonight in the Crown].”
Although Dunn has been the regular pilot for both Super Chapter and Maryland, on two previous occasions he had to choose between the two. In the Hambletonian final, Dunn chose to stay with Maryland and Gingras drove Super Chapter, while in the Futurity, Dunn chose Super Chapter with Gingras getting the drive on Maryland. According to Melander, for the Breeders Crown, Dunn didn’t need to make a choice.
“You know, obviously, Dexter had to make a choice before the Kentucky Futurity, who he wanted to go with in that race and then I just kind of decided for Dexter for this race, because Yannick drove Maryland in the Futurity,” Melander said. “After the Hambo, obviously, I knew [Maryland and Super Chapter] were going to go different routes, so I put Dexter back on both of them, because I knew they were not going to race against each other. But obviously with the Futurity and now Breeders Crown coming up right after, I don’t want to change the drivers. Yannick drove Maryland in the Futurity, so I didn’t want to change any drivers here for the Breeders Crown… I kind of liked that they were going to stick with the same horses that they were driving in the Futurity, because now Yannick knows a little bit more about Maryland from when he drove him. Obviously, Dexter has been driving both of them in most of their starts, but I mean, when it comes to a race like this, it’s nice to have two top drivers that can drive each of them.”
Top pilot Scott Zeron will drive Melander trained Meshuggah (post 1, 20-1), a son of Greenshoe out of the Trixton mare Starita.
“He’s been having a good year as well,” Melander said of Meshuggah. “You know, the last two starts, in both Kentucky races, he raced fantastic. Of course, he might be an outsider against the best ones, but he always shows up, he’s always right there, making a lot of money… If they race a hard pace, and he can work out the good trip, he gives it all. You could see that the first week of Lexington when he won [the Bluegrass] in [1]:50.1 from the pocket, and he did it pretty easy. So, if he gets the right trip, he’s right there.”
Melander is considering whether or not to pull shoes on his 3-year-old colts in the Crown final as he did in the Futurity.
“I haven’t decided yet what to do, we’ll see how the track is,” Melander said. “I thought the track was a little bit hard last week, so the [older] horses definitely will go barefoot. They’ve been doing it before up here [at Mohawk].
“[The Red Mile] is a fantastic track. The track’s usually very good up here at Mohawk as well. Last Saturday, it was just a little bit hard for my taste, but you know, hopefully, it’ll be a little bit better this weekend.”
Melander said pulling shoes can sometimes give a horse a little bit more.
“Yeah, they get a little kick out of it, obviously,” he said. “Not all of them, I mean, but 90 per cent get a little bit of kick from pulling shoes, especially if you do it for the first time. But for great horses, I think it doesn’t really matter. I mean, Super Chapter, he won with shoes at Pocono in a[1]:50 flat, a world record there at Pocono and they went [1]:49.2 at The Red Mile without shoes. It can help a little bit, but the greatest ones, I don’t think they get so much better without shoes, I think they give it all anyway.”
Super Chapter and Emoticon Legacy have only faced each other in three races this year. Although neither of them won their first matchup, the Hambletonian final, Super Chapter finished second, while Emoticon Legacy was fifth. Super Chapter won their second match up in the Beal, and Emoticon Legacy won their third, a Futurity face off.
With Super Chapter and Emoticon Legacy in such a close statistical battle, a win in tonight’s Crown final should indeed wrap up divisional honors for one of them and if someone else were to win it, how they race and where they finish should certainly be taken into consideration.
