A 46-year record run of Hambletonians at The Meadowlands

by Bob Heyden

The Hambletonian had nearly 50 years at The Meadowlands. That’s a lot of years to go through, but let’s start by putting a congratulatory bow on 20 records of varying importance, many set just this year.

1. With 101 Hambletonians in the books, only Apex and Karl had as few as four letters in their names.

2. The combined margin of victory in every Hambletonian from Yankee Paco in 2000 to Apex in 2026 is 25¾ lengths, less than a length per.

3. Ten different Hall of Fame trainers won a Hambletonian in New Jersey totaling 22 in all: Ray Remmen, Billy Haughton, Stanley Dancer, Jimmy Takter, Blair Burgess, Chuck Sylvester, Ron Gurfein, Per Eriksson, Jim Campbell, and Ake Svanstedt.

4. Dexter Dunn became the sixth driver-1:49.2 Apex-to set the all-time Hambletonian best in their first Hambletonian win (Apex, 1:49.2). He follows Andy McCarthy who tied the mark at 1:50.1 in 2020 with Ramona Hill; Brian Sears with Muscle Hill in 2009 (1:50.1); Ron Pierce in 1993 American Winner (1:53.1); John Campbell in 1987 with Mack Lobell (1:53.3), and Bill O’Donnell in 1985 with Prakas (1:54.3).

5. The 46 Hambletonians went to 31 different drivers since the move to East Rutherford in 1981, identical to the training side of 31-for-46.

6. Four winning Hambletonian drivers from The Meadowlands era are no longer with us: Stanley Dancer (Duenna, 1983);  Ulf Thoresen (Nuclear Kosmos, 1986); Mal Burroughs (Malabar Man, 1997); and Eric Ledford (Chip Chip Hooray, 2002).

7. Six trainers have also passed: Billy Haughton (Speed Bowl, 1982); again, Stanley Dancer who also trained Duenna in 1983; Skip Lewis (Historic Freight, 1984); Osvaldo Formia (Probe, 1989) and (Harmonious, 1990); Milton Smith (American Winner, 1993), and Ron Gurfein who captured three Hambletonians in the 1990s (Victory Dream, 1994), (Continentalvictory, 1996), and (Self Possessed, 1999).

8. If Dexter Dunn wins the 2027 Hambletonian in Indiana it would mark the first time in 44 years that any driver has won the Classic at two different venues: Stanley Dancer won one at The Meadowlands and three in DuQuoin.

9. Eight times since the 1981 move to New Jersey the Hambletonian has been the new richest race ever: $838,000 (1981), $875,750 (1982), $1,080,000 (1983), $1,219,000 (1984), $1,272,000 (1985), $1,344,000 (1990), $1,500,0000 (2005), to $1,520,333 (2009) when, fittingly, the richest single-season earner, Muscle Hill, won the richest Hambletonian.

10. In the 21^st century, 14 of the first 16 Hambletonian-winning caretakers were female. Corinne Tripp in 1979 with Legend Hanover got the ball rolling for the avalanche to follow.

11. Can Apex end a 17-year drought? No Hambletonian winner has been named Horse of the Year the same year since Muscle Hill did it in 2009.

12. In 2010 Muscle Massive won the Hambletonian and Sportswriter won the North America Cup, the richest trot and pace of the year, respectively. Between them, they only won one more race.

13. Brett Beckwith at 23 years 7 months of age was fifth in the Hambletonian with Captain Naughty this year. That made him the youngest in Meadowlands
Hambletonian history to get a check. Only Peter Haughton at 21 and then 22 in the late 1970s was younger. Eric Adeilsson was 20 in 1995 and tried to advance to the final but came up short.

14. The Meadowlands was a track of milestones indeed, most especially come Hambletonian time: The first sub 1:55 (1:54.3, Prakas, 1985), the first sub 1:54 (1:53.3, Mack Lobell, 1987), the first sub 1:53 (1:52.1, Continentalvictory, 1996), the first sub 1:52 (1:51.3, Self Possessed, 1999), the first sub 1:51 (1:50.1, Muscle Hill, 2009), and currently the first sub 1:50 (1:49.2, Apex 2026).

15. Has anyone ever had a decade like Tommy Haughton did in the 1980s? He debuted in the Hambletonian with Final Score (1980), finished second, and was then voted 3YOCT of the Year. In 1982, he became the youngest to win the Hambletonian at age 25 with Speed Bowl,
the same month he set the new world race record of 1:51.3 with sophomore pacing colt Trenton. In 1989 he trains the Hambletonian fave with a 17-race winning streak Peace Corps but she came up a little short on that dead-heat day. He did not drive in the Hambletonian after that decade.

16. Muscle Massive, sire of history’s fastest male trotter On To Norway (1 48.3), was a $425,000 yearling in 2008 and paid great dividends in 2010 becoming the lone high-ticket yearling in The Meadowlands era to parlay that into Hambletonian glory.

17. Jimmy Takter and daughter Nancy Takter are the last two trainers to go back-to-back in the Hambletonian. For dad it was 2014-15 and for Nancy it was 2023-24. Six combined when you add in 1997 and 2010 for Hall of Famer Jimmy.

18. Marcus Melander broke through in 2026 after a decade of dominance without winning. His uncle took down the trophy a quarter century back. Stefan Melander won with Scarlet Knight in 2001. Marcus is just 34 and Dunn
is 36.

19. Apex was the first Mohawk Million winner to take the Hambletonian coming in with a powerful bio which included the Dan Patch 2YOCT trophy from 2025. But a standout past has never been a pre-requisite for winning. Shiaway St Pat in 1981 was a gelding bred in Michigan and his very next start after the Hambletonian was on the Michigan Fair circuit.

20. Jeffrey Snyder owns the Hambletonian all-time record setter in Apex (1:49.2). He also set the stakes record in 2004 with Rocknroll Hanover in the Metro at 1 49.4, the Meadowlands Pace stakes mark of 1:48.3, also with Rocknroll Hanover, in 2005, the North America Cup new standard in 2002 with Red River Hanover in 1:48.4, and then lowered that seven years later in Canada with Well Said in 1:48.1.