Who’s going to be crowned the best 2-year-old trotters and pacers?
by John Berry
It’s the time of year when the wonderful aficionados in our sport sift through the records and visual memories to decide the best-of-the-best in their respective classes of 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, and older horses.
They will all be honored at the Dan Patch Awards festivities early next year.
I have received some inquiries as to my opinion(s) on this subject and, though, there are those much more knowledgeable on this matter than I, it’s an honor for me to fulfill the requests of the few.
So, here goes.
2-YEAR-OLD FILLY TROTTERS
There were a good handful of fillies in this 2025 class, including Setyoursightshigh, Nezuko Kamado S, Storybook Love, Demonic Niko, and Ginger Tree Lex all showing the qualities of a great horse, manners, speed and durability.
But, when push came to shove, as the old-saying goes, “It all came down to the Breeders Crown!”
Ginger Tree Lex did all her damage in Pennsylvania and Demonic Niko proved her mettle in never leaving Ohio.
Nezuko Kamado S won almost $550,000 and took a mark of 1:52.2 over the Hoosier Park oval showing extreme tenacity late to do it impressively and followed that up with a couple of wins at Vernon and, then, coming from Queen Street in Toronto to win a Breeders Crown elimination.
In the final, she got very confident, brushing to the front halfway through the mile but was out-sprinted by the remaining two on my list — Storybook Love and Setyoursightshigh — and finished third.
She had one more chance to have a check mark after her name — in the Goldsmith Maid — and just did miss.
That left Storybook Love and Setyoursightshigh, in my opinion, for the top spot.
No doubt, Setyoursightshigh was quickest off the gate in winning her first six starts and just missed in her next start, by a head, in 1:52.3 at The Red Mile and then won the $300,000 Ohio Sire Stakes final before traveling north of the border for the Breeders Crown.
She was second to Storybook Love in the elimination, and again, second in the Crown final.
Storybook Love had an inauspicious beginning to her career with her first five starts not showing anything that would indicate the making of a champion.
But she began to put it all together up north with a pair of seconds at Woodbine Mohawk Park, and then a second and a win at Vernon Downs followed by a strong second in the $250,000 Big Apple final.
It, then, all came down to the Breeders Crown where she won her elimination in 1:53.2, :27, and then, from a seemingly impossible situation, won the final.
So, the question is, does her late season performances make precedent over Setyoursightshigh dominance early on?
Tough call.
2-YEAR-OLD COLT TROTTERS
In alphabetical order, Apex, Diabolic Hill, Endurance, and Spencer Hanover are considered the superfecta four in this group.
Apex was the fastest with his 1:51.4 performance in the Mohawk Million and won the most $871,798 and fashioned a 6-1-1 scorecard in nine starts.
Of course, 6 + 1 + 1 equals eight with his only race off the board in the Breeders Crown where he brushed to the top at the third stanza and fought hard, yes, but finished a length back of Spencer Hanover, Diabolic Hill, and Mr Big Spender in a bang-bang finish.
Beginning his career in NJSS events where he won two of three there, including the $225,000 final, Apex traveled to The Red Mile and finished third in a KYSS event after looking the leader in the eye turning for home.
He cruised in the $250,000 NJ Classic final, using a :26.4 finale to score in 1:52.2 trouncing rivals by 5¾ lengths.
He was on to Hoosier Park for an encounter a week later, the $368,950 Peter Haughton Memorial and gutted out a brave win there.
After the aforementioned Mohawk Million, he got a well-deserved rest, qualified handily a week before his Breeders Crown battle and was just a bit short in the final stages.
Diabolic Hill also had a competitive season with a 5-2-1 reading in 10 starts and a 1:53.1 record while banking $506,636.
It could have been a lot more, but an unfortunate miscue in the final stages of the $250,000 New Jersey Classic was the one misstep preventing a better showing in that event won by Apex.
A couple of weeks later, Diabolic Hill was north of the border ay Mohawk with a bit of bad luck beginning three days before the race — post position 9.
Outside the entire mile — his probably a mile and a 1/16th — he trotted his final panel in :26.3 to finish fourth, to Apex.
He crushed his foes in the Breeders Crown elim in 1:53.1 and he put in a superb showing in the Breeders Crown final — won by Spencer Hanover — finishing a very fast closing second and then closed out his 2-year-old year with a gutsy win in the $421,000 Valley Victory in 1:53.3 on a chilly November night at The Meadowlands.
Endurance had a similar scorecard for the season, 8 6-1-0, and earned $557,450 to go along with a 1:52.3 mark at The Red Mile in their $400,000 sire stakes final.
In fact, he started his season in the Bluegrass State winning six-in-a-row in their lucrative stakes program before traveling out of state for the Mohawk Million, where he was second to Apex.
Endurance did stick around for the Breeders Crown but was scratched from his elimination because of a soundness issue after he stepped on a nail.
Could that have been a huge factor in these year-end honors?
Absolutely.
Spencer Hanover’s 2025 report card shows 13 starts with a 3-4-1 score and $649,889 in bounty to go along with a 1:52.3 mark at Vernon Downs.
With kind of a humble beginning to his season in June, he never even won a race in the New York Sire Stakes traveling from Saratoga to Monticello to Yonkers.
He got checks but didn’t win his first race until Oct. 11, when he absolutely crushed his foes in the $259,000 Big Apple at Vernon in taking his 2-year-old mark.
From there, he went to Mohawk for the Breeders Crown, and first won his elimination in 1:53.4, :26.3, and then proved that was not a fluke by winning the $700,000 Breeders Crown final over Diabolic Hill in 1:53.2 on a chilly Canadian night.
On, then, to wrap up the season at The Meadowlands in the $421,000 Valley Victory where his epic battle with Diabolic Hill left him a head short at the wire.
Could that head cost Spencer Hanover’s late season heroics the crown in his class?
2-YEAR-OLD FILLY PACERS
There were quite a few 2-year-old fillies that caught my eyes this semester with a few being, again, in alphabetical order, A Clean Deal, Daya, Gala, Liberty Style, Loud Dipa, Seaside Shuffle, She’s A Bulldog, She’safirewoman, Topville Lucky, and Whoomp.
Of course, the overall favorite, probably 1-20, would be Loua Dipa, with a scorecard of 9-2-1 in 13 starts and $827,028 in the bank along with the second fastest mile by any 2-year-old pacer in 2025, 1:48. The fastest being by gelding Odds On Mr Mamba at 1:47.4.
That first hint of great potential didn’t even result in a win in a maiden pace for the youngsters as her season began; she finished third but paced her last half in :55 and final quarter in :27 in mid-June at The Meadows.
She was already showing signs of greatness in the PASS program cruising in the Arden Stake and a couple of sire stakes throughout the Keystone State but only earned a “nickel” in the $300,000 final in Philly.
Her greatness emerged on the larger tracks with a win in Mohawk’s She’s A Great Lady elimination in 1:49.3 in mid-September, followed by a 1:49.1 trouncing of her foes in the $343,100 final. She followed that with a trip to The Red Mile, where she made a monstrous quarter move to the top, put up subsequent numbers of :54.1 and 1:22.1, en route to a :25.4 finale to hit the wire in 1:48.
She then cruised in the Breeders Crown elimination (1:49.3) and the $700,000 BC final in 1:49.1.
The only dent in her armor came in the $357,000 Three Diamonds final at The Meadowlands where she was out-sprinted by She’s A Bulldog in 1:51.3, her maiden win.
Whether the aficionados in our sport will forgive that or not — they sure didn’t when they knocked Louprint off the top rung — remains to be seen, but it’s very doubtful.
Seaside Shuffle was second on the earnings list with $400,607 and was a consistent 4-1-5 in 12 starts, her best 1:51.3, and spent most of her time in Ohio and Kentucky before stepping up to Mohawk with a very strong third in the Breeders Crown. In the Three Diamonds, she was prominent turning for home but finished sixth and that was that.
Topville Lucky got a bit of a late start compared to others but only had one blemish on her nearly perfect season, a line-charted “DX” at The Red Mile in a Sire Stakes event. A “DX” meaning the judges deemed the driver caused the break. She was six-for-seven with $372,000 in bounty and closed out her campaign, as the others went on, in early October with a 1:49.2 hand score, highlighted by yet another final quarter in :26.
Outside of that, she spent her time in the comfort of The Red Mile and swept through her sire stakes event showing agility and versatility closing out the year with a win in the $400,000 KYSS final in 1:50.4, :26, the Bluegrass in 1:50.4, :26.2, and that International Stallion Stakes in that aforementioned 1:49.2 score. Next season should be very interesting.
We, in the U.S., didn’t see Daya as she spent her season in Canada compiling a 5-4-1 scorecard in 12 starts while earning $352,539 and taking a 1:50.4 mark at Grand River’s five-eighth’s mile oval.
Daya earned her living the hard way, too, making her presence felt in sire stakes action and in the Breeders Crown where she was prominent all the way and finished fourth. She couldn’t quite handle Loua Dipa, She’s A Bulldog, or Seaside Shuffle in the Crown, but there’s always next year.
Whoomp spent her entire season in the friendly confines of Indiana’s Hoosier Park while compiling an 8-1-1 past performance line in 13 starts.
While she was solid, but not invincible, early on, when September rolled around, she was invincible, winning her final four starts, with her finale in a lifetime best of 1:50.4 in the $250,000 sire stakes. She became well known with her consistent final sprints home in :26, with one as fast as :25.4.
2-YEAR-OLD COLT PACERS
On the male pacing side of the 2-year-old ledger — and maybe all of the groups regardless of age — the unbeatable, invincible, unconquerable, and mighty Beau Jangles had the season-of-seasons, unblemished in 12 starts, earning $1,227,326 along the way while competing north of the border, with the vast majority of his starts at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
A couple of qualifiers at Mohawk kicked off his season — the first from off-the-pace where he finished third in a 1:53.4 mile, he went in 1:54.3, last half :54.3 and last quarter :26.
He won his first start as the fireworks were cooling in the U.S. with his fireworks just beginning with a 1:50.1 win in sire stakes action.
The whiskbroom was out and continuing at Mohawk — with a Grand River stop along the way (1:51) — and continued at Mohawk with a record 1:50 performance in the Nassagaweya and then a sweep in the Metro elim (1:49.3) and $700,000 final in 1:49.1.
More Ontario Sire Stakes action followed with only the Breeders Crown ahead to protect a perfect season.
A gate-to-wire 1:49.1, :26.2 win in the elimination set up his grand finale, a 1:48.3 performance in that $700,000 final, sealing the perfect season, and maybe, much more.
Among those giving chase this season were AI Papa, Melillo, Show Me Your Ace, Windor, No Waitlist, Frantic Hanover, Sweet Loving Lou, and so many other great horses, but none greater than Beau Jangles.
Yes, you can brag about the others “Tilthecowscomehome,” but this class crown goes to Beau Jangles.
Next Mane, we’ll tackle the sophomore classes.
May The Horse Be With You!
