On the Hambletonian moving to Indiana: Take a deep breath everyone

by Bob Heyden

On the 18,110th day in the history of The Meadowlands, Aug. 13, 2026, the decision was made to move the Hambletonian to Hoosier Park in Indiana.

It was a 46-year run, with the last 44 carrying an unprecedented seven-figure purse. Six days earlier, in the 63,360th inch of the Hambletonian, the photo went to Apex. The first 63,359 had not yet decided it. Do the math folks. It means someone is going to be disappointed.

Many are expressing shock and dismay that the Hambletonian could head out. The initial reaction always centers on where the race had been, the history, the memories. That’s totally understood. Hey, I worked there 36 years. I get it. But this is way too dismissive of where it is going.

It’s 693 miles to Hoosier Park in Anderson, IN. Hey, that’s 262 miles closer than DuQuoin.

We are still in the immediacy of the moment, which was shocking to many. What will now follow is a ton of noise. Change can indeed be quite difficult to accept. Itineraries are to be modified for sure. Breeder adjustments. Travel and Airbnb alterations. Anger and shock are part of the knee jerk reaction.

First, it’s still in the U.S., which is a big relief. Let’s be honest, there’s never been a race more American than the Hambletonian.

Second, it’s Hoosier Park. Most haven’t been there and are probably not sure where it is. It opened on Sept. 1, 1994, ironically, 18 years to the day after The Meadowlands welcomed fans in for the very first time. The first couple of decades, Hoosier was feeling it’s way, mostly serving only the locals. The last decade however has seen Indiana, and most notably Hoosier Park, become a major player on the Grand (Circuit) Stage. From JK She’salady winning the $151G Kentuckiana on Sept. 20, 2014 of her undefeated HOY season of 2014 to Confederate nailing down the Breeders Crown and HOY in 2023, the best of the best have all circled Hoosier Park as a destination stop along the way.

Third, the top drivers have all been semi-regulars of late. Who has the most track records at Hoosier with seven? Dexter Dunn. A couple of months after winning the 2023 Hambletonian with Tactical Approach from post 10, Scott Zeron duplicated that from post 10 in the Breeders Crown at Hoosier Park too. Yannick Gingras was the first to go back-to-back in the Grade 1 Dan Patch with Check Six in 2017 and Lazarus in 2018. Ake Svanstedt won four Breeders Crowns in Anderson, IN, in 2023 and Burke led all stables in Crown $$ that year. Dave Miller parlayed a Dan Patch and a Breeders Crown in 2020 with Century Farroh en route to being named the Canadian Horse of the Year. Tim Tetrick was actually a regular in Anderson at 20 and 21 years old long before he, well, became Tim Tetrick.

Fourth, the leading Hambletonian sire in its 101-year history, by a country block, was born in Carmel, IN. Stars Pride, a foal of 1947, was a scant nose in back of Lusty Song in 1950 or he would have been a Hambletonian winner himself. This $2,950 yearling completely changed the breed by siring eight Hambo winners, 10 Kentucky Futurity winners, and a mind-numbing four-straight Triple Crown winners: Ayres (1964), Nevele Pride (1968), Lindy’s Pride (1969), and Super Bowl (1972).

For you pacing fans, Hal Dale was an Indiana foal (bred by William Thompson of New Ross, IN) of 1926 and after an OK racing career with a late start he too had a monstrous influence over the breed.

The richest race ever contested was the 1984 Wilson ($2,161,000) won by Nihilator. Robert Gangloff of Logansport, IN was his breeder.

Today, 90 per cent and up of all pacers competing in North America, Nihilator too, trace right back to Hal Dale. Indiana’s own Hal Dale.

Fifth, the fastest male trotter ever, On To Norway (1:48.3), was bred in Indiana. The record he broke this year was the standard set by Homicide Hunter (1:48.4) on Oct. 6, 2018 at The Red Mile who was bred in neighboring Illinois. Homicide Hunter held the Hoosier Park track record among the trotting boys for consecutive wins until “Norway” came along. You get the point.

Let’s look at it this way. If someone had told you a dozen years ago that Hoosier Park in Indiana would play host to 36 Breeders Crown races in a seven-year stretch (2017, 2020, and 2023) what would you have said then? If someone told you a half dozen years ago that the Indiana Hoosiers would go undefeated and take home the NCAA title in 2026 what would your reaction have been at that moment? If someone pulled you aside a decade ago and told you that the thoroughbred Triple Crown in the summer of 2026 was to be tinkered with, you likely would have dismissed it.

If you still think that Hoosier Park is some way-out-of-way place somewhere in the Midwest, consider this: on June 23, 1996 Jennas Beach Boy set the then all-age race record of 1:47 3 winning a thriller over Riyadh in the Driscoll at The Meadowlands. His very next race was two weeks later at Hoosier Park in the Dan Patch which he captured in a then stakes best 1:49 4. Bulldog Hanover, after his 1:45.4 world record effort at The Meadowlands in July 2022, his next race was 27 days later when he ventured to Hoosier Park, a track he was quite familiar with prior. He too made short work of his Dan Patch rivals. The biggest stars all seem to know where it is.

Maybe the recent doings of the Hambletonian Society are most reminiscent of the 1957 Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants both leaving town and setting up on the left coast 3,000 miles away. The Dodgers to Los Angeles and the Giants to San Francisco. A 1958 start-up for both. The extremely loyal fandom in New York did not take it well. Abandonment. Sold out. Emptiness. But that, eventually, played out well for both sides. The New York Metropolitans (Mets) were introduced five years later and rewarded those die-hards with an improbable 1969 World Series title. The Dodgers and Giants have thrived with multiple world championships since. Which begs the question, can both sides benefit here? Of course, but only time will tell.

I do want to remind those who wanted, no demanded, and fully expected, a lifetime of Meadowlands Hambletonians, those two were synonymous with each other and nothing will change that. Michael Jordan was and is completely synonymous with the Chicago Bulls and he left town too, after 1998. But the best comparison is the one and only Babe Ruth. The greatest New York Yankee of all and quite possibly the greatest player ever, anywhere. But he did not start with the Yankees but with the Boston Red Sox. He also did not finish with the Yankees but with the Boston Braves. The Hambletonian started in Syracuse and is now headed to Indiana folks.

Let’s finish with this. In 1982 and 1983 the biggest money events in the sport for freshman and sophomore trotters were the Merrie Annabelle, now the Jim Doherty, the Peter Haughton, the Hambletonian Oaks, and the Hambletonian were all at The Meadowlands. Those two years of 1982 and 1983 saw Indiana still a decade plus out from getting pari-mutuel wagering on Sept. 1, 1994. Fast forward to 2027 and those four races for the very first time will be together again, but this time in the State of Indiana. Go back a decade or so and ask yourself how foreign or distant to even think something like this actually seemed. But you also might not have predicted the richest driver ever Dave Miller returning home in 2026 to the Midwest. Life comes at you fast folks, and doesn’t ask your permission. This was a brushback pitch to many. High and inside. But no matter how you slice it, you have to get back up and move forward. One step in front of the other and give this room to breathe. Who knows, you might be setting your GPS to Indiana sooner than you think.