Horsepeople talk 2025, and hopes for 2026
Six Meadowlands regulars talk about the year that was and the year that may be.
by Debbie Little
To celebrate the New Year, I’ve asked some Meadowlands horsepeople the same three questions.
1. What is your best memory of the year: a) on the track, and b) off the track?
2. Have you ever made New Year’s resolutions and did you keep them?
3. Do you have something you’d like to accomplish in 2026?
JASON BARTLETT
1a. “Winning my first two Breeders Crowns and Driver of the Year.”
1b. “Watching my children work hard and achieve their goals. My oldest, Kobe, graduated from welding school and landed a great job at the Local 11 Ironworkers Union. My youngest, Karter, worked all off season to make varsity basketball as a freshman.”
2. “No, I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions.”
3. “Staying healthy, which would give me the opportunity to repeat what I’ve accomplished in 2025.”
BRETT BECKWITH
1a. “Winning a Massachusetts sire [stakes race] for Debbie Daguet.”
1b. “Going to New Zealand. I met lifelong friends and that’s what counts.”
2. “I make them every year. I think it’s important to set different types of goals, both short and long term.”
3. “As soon as I hit my 2,000th win this weekend [Dec. 27] that would accomplish everything for the year. That one means a lot because I’d be the youngest ever and the previous people to hold that went on to have great careers.”
BILL POLLOCK
1a. “Yo Tillie all year, but mostly the Breeders Crown. Bucky’s [Abuckabett Hanover] retirement would be second.”
1b. “Off the track, it’s the meetings we have with our team and my son [Billy]. We talk horses for hours and seeing how Billy knows the business and has plenty to add to the conversation; he has a tremendous memory of which horse won here or there and who drives other horses and we’ve bought some aged horses that he’s recommended.”
2. “I’ve never set any resolutions, but as a team we’re always looking to improve our barn.”
3. “We’ve had two Dan Patch horses and a Breeders Crown in three years; we’re hoping to build on that, hopefully, with many more of each; at least that’s the plan.”
RICO ROBINSON
1a. “My best memory on the track is becoming trainer for Tom Pollack.”
1b. “My best memory off the track is marrying my wife, Treveynne Gussom Robinson, on March 9, 2025.”
2. “My New Year’s resolution was to be a better person, and yes, I kept it.”
3. “In 2026, I would like to be one of the Top 10 trainers in the country.”
JEFF SNYDER
1a. “Super Chapter getting the 3-Year-Old [Male] Trotter of the Year Award.”
1b. “Seeing my grandchildren doing well in school and extracurricular activities.”
2. “I never make firm New Year’s resolutions; just try to be the best all-around person I can be.”
3. “I hope to win as many big races as possible in 2026.”
STEVE STEWART
1a. “Apex winning the NJ Sires Stakes final the next race after Maryland disappointingly finished third in the Hambletonian.”
1b. “Selling $12 million [worth] of yearlings at the Lexington Sale.”
2. “No resolutions, knowing that I would probably fail.”
3. “My broken shoulder to be fixed.”
