On top of the mountain: Apex is epic in Hambletonian 101

Apex’s epic victory by a nose over Big Ranger in the $1 million Grade 1 event provided the first Hambletonian victory for trainer Marcus Melander, driver Dexter Dunn, owners Jeffrey Snyder and Steve and Cindy Stewart and redeemed sire Walner and dam Mission Brief.

by Dave Briggs

After finishing second in the Hambletonian four times – including three times in the last four years – you would have forgiven trainer Marcus Melander for thinking he might be hexed as his pupil Apex turned for home on the lead Saturday afternoon (Aug. 8) at The Meadowlands as chief rival and race favorite Big Ranger pulled up alongside and threatened to go right past.

Except, despite all the agonizing just-misses and oh-so-closes en route to his first Hambletonian, Melander knew Apex would respond; and boy did he, going nose-to-nose with Big Ranger as the two of them traded haymakers in the stifling New Jersey heat.

“I know he always fights,” Melander said of Apex. “But, obviously, the other horse is a great horse, too.”

In the end, Apex, the 5-2 second choice, was just a nostril hair better in a photo finish reminiscent of the epic 1989 Dead Heat Hambletonian between Probe and Park Avenue Joe. Except, in this case, the teletimer was borderline combustible – a 1:49.2 scorcher that is the stakes and track record for 3-year-old trotters.

This one will go down as one of the greats.

“By the wire, I thought we got beat, because usually it’s the outside horse [that wins those close finishes here],” the trainer said. “But, [Apex will] give everything to be first, and he did that today. He did everything on the front. He looked fantastic, and he’s just our champion.”

Melander had finally escaped the media maelstrom. As he sat in the back of the shuttle taking people between the winner’s circle and the paddock, he processed the enormity of it all. He held his young daughter Hailey’s hand as she clutched some flowers and competed for his attention.

Twenty-five years ago, Marcus’ uncle, Stefan Melander, won the Hambletonian with Scarlet Knight.

“I was only 9 years old and can’t remember too much about that, but it’s great to get this done,” Marcus said. “It’s a relief, really.

“Every time we’ve been second, I’ve been disappointed at the result, but look at the horses and how they raced. Super Chapter, last year, he raced fantastic. Joviality [in 2022] raced fantastic. Oh Well [in 2023] raced fantastic and Tactical Approach got up on the inside [to win]. I’ve never been disappointed in the horses. They raced well.”

That it took 18 previous finalists since his first Hambletonian appearance in 2017 to finally get the chance to raise the famed revere silver bowl shows you how monumental an achievement it is.

“Oh, it’s hard,” Marcus said. “It’s very hard. We’ve tried many times. I’m sure we’ll try a lot more times because maybe we can get it done again, but we finally got one win here.”

Apex’s driver, Dexter Dunn, knows the feeling.

He’s had seven previous Hambletonian finalists before Apex finally took him to the winner’s circle.

“It’s unbelievable, just a great feeling, honestly,” Dunn said. “I’ve had some chances. If a couple of those races had spanned out differently, we could’ve won before, but it’s the Hambletonian, and it’s hard to win.”

Asked if the feeling of finally breaking through was better than winning other stakes, Dunn was unequivocal.

“One hundred per cent,” he said. “It’s such a prestigious race. I used to watch it as a kid back in New Zealand. They’d show replays… on the trackside channel.

“This is the biggest thrill of my career.”

In the process, Apex also redeemed both of his parents. His dam, Mission Brief, was the favorite in the 2015 Hambletonian only to suffer a narrow victory to Pinkman. Two years later, Apex’s sire, Walner, likely would have been the Hambletonian favorite but was scratched due to injury and never raced again. What he did do is become a prolific sire – and now he has produced his first Hambletonian winner.

The woman who helped produce Apex, was justifiably emotional.

When the win photo finally produced a winner, Cindy Stewart burst into tears. She and her husband, Steve, had also won their first Hambletonian – as owners.

In the stretch, Steve said Cindy, “just kept yelling, ‘Stay up, stay up’ because [Big Ranger] was just barrelling down on [Apex]. I asked Dexter in the winner’s circle, ‘When something like that happens, do you feel the horse?’ He said, ‘Oh yeah, you can feel him just like [saying] ‘No, you’re not.’ [Apex] just found another gear and dug in.”

On the way to the winner’s circle, Cindy continued to cry.

“She was crying on the escalator on the way down,” Steve said.

It was about an hour later, and the couple were sitting at a window-side table in Pink, the track’s restaurant appropriately named for how the Stewarts were feeling. Most of the other diners had already left, and the sun was just the right height to illuminate Steve and Cindy’s faces; not that it was necessary. They both were beaming.

Despite breeding three previous Hambletonian winners – Trixton in 2014, Forbidden Trade in 2019, and Tactical Approach in 2023 – there was something just different about owning a piece of Apex, whom they share with Jeffrey Snyder and Lennart Agren and Peter Weisberg’s S R F Stable.

That the Stewarts also share in the breeding of Apex, with the rest of the seven-member Mission Brief Stable, made this one hard to beat.

“This one put it over the top,” Cindy said, looking into Steve’s eyes as he caught her gaze and smiled.

“It’s our baby, our kid out there.”

That kid is a product of two generations of mares that have called the Stewarts’ Hunterton Farms in Kentucky home.

It began when the Stewarts acquired Southwind Serena in 2009 and continued through her daughter, Mission Brief, who raced to acclaim for trainer Ron Burke and the Burke Brigade and then came home to Hunterton when she was sold upon retirement.

Apex is the fifth of Mission Brief’s seven foals that have, collectively, sold for $3.5 million. Apex, alone, sold for $525,000 at the 2024 Standardbred Horse Sales Company yearling sale in Harrisburg, PA.

Snyder, who was also celebrating his first Hambletonian victory, was the driving force behind buying Apex.

“I happened to do the bidding,” Snyder said. “The reason we picked him… is because Marcus trained a horse named Jaya Bae, who was a full sister and showed tremendous ability early, and Mission Brief was a phenomenal mare, who raced in the Hambletonian, and that was it.”

Considering Snyder has won just about everything there is to win on the pacing side of the sport – four Pepsi North America Cups, three Meadowlands Paces, three Jugs, three Breeders Crowns and two Metros – he was liking the view just fine from the top of the trotting mountain.

“It’s the zenith or the apex,” Snyder said. “[Apex is] aptly named. I’m just glad I have my family here. I’ve got great partners.

Among them, only S R F has tasted Hambletonian victory before – in 2021 with Captain Corey and 2017 with Perfect Spirit.

As for Marcus Melander, this was, finally, his day of days.

He not only won the Hambletonian, he also won the Grade 1 Hambletonian Oaks with Nezuko Kamado S – becoming just the fourth trainer to win the Hambletonian and Oaks in the same year. Marcus also won the John Cashman Memorial with last year’s Hambletonian runner-up, Super Chapter, and the Vincennes with Bourbonista S.

Marcus had total earnings of $1,164,452 on Hambletonian Day. Of the 14 horses he had racing on Saturday, just two failed to crack the top five.

After nearly a decade of trying, the trainer had finally crested the peak, and the view was spectacular.

“I’m going to sleep well tonight,” he said.