Chicken N Dice to put perfect 16-for-16 record on the line on Saturday at MGM Northfield Park

by Jay Wolf

MGM Northfield Park’s executive vice president of racing Dave Bianconi has always tried to get the fastest and richest sophomore pacers for his track’s Carl Milstein Memorial Invitational. This year, he secured the winningest horse in North America when Chicken N Dice puts his perfect 16-for-16 record on the line in Saturday’s (Aug. 12) $300,000 event.

The Iowa-bred son of Millionaire Cam out of Keystone Ivy is conditioned by Curtis Carey for his father, Thomas Carey and co-owner Jesse DeLong.

As a 2-year-old, the homebred won 13 straight Iowa fair events, making him the winningest freshman pacer in North America. He has since added three additional wins for the longest current streak on the continent.

Chicken N Dice started his career in a $500 state bred event at West Liberty scoring a half-length victory in 2:10, followed up with a win at Eldon in 2:06.1. As the season wore on, the competition started to get harder and the purses larger.

His most impressive win as a freshman came on July 30 at Humboldt, a 6 ½ length score in 2:00.

“He’s kinda one of those horses that has never really had to pace a lot,” said the 43-year-old trainer. “We really didn’t know what he could do.”

The gelding’s last 2-year-old start came in the $18,000 Iowa fair final at Humboldt on Oct. 2. He needed a tough, first-over trip to score by a neck in 2:02.3. It was discovered after the race that Chicken N Dice broke a coffin bone.

“We had plans to take him to Lexington to race but he broke a bone,” said Curtis.

After the injury, Chicken N Dice was sent to John DeLong’s farm in central Indiana to rehab.

With just three sophomore starts, Chicken N Dice has made steady progress.

“We didn’t stake him to anything this year, not knowing what was going to happen,” said Curtis. “We have been racing him very conservatively. He just keeps winning and doing what we want him to do.”

Bianconi reaches out to Curtis every summer to scout for potential contestants for the Milstein.

“I called Curtis last summer and he mentioned that he had a real good 2-year-old that was undefeated,” said Bianconi. “I told him that if he was still undefeated at 3, I would make sure he had a spot in our signature event.”

Bianconi is a man of his word and invited Curtis to bring Chicken N Dice to Cleveland.

Curtis knows how to find the northeast Ohio track as Chicken N Dice will be his third starter in Northfield Park’s biggest event. He finished third in 2018 with Minnie Vinnie and eighth with Slippin The Clutch in 2020.

Curtis is bringing Minnie Vinnie along for this week’s 10-hour trailer ride to Northfield Park. The now 8-year-old is racing in a $10,000 conditioned event Saturday night (Aug. 12).

Chicken N Dice’s regular pilot, Will Roland, won’t be at Northfield Park, so Curtis is turning to Aaron Merriman, North America’s and Northfield Park’s top reinsman.

“Aaron drove my other two [Milstein starters] and has done a nice job with them,” said Curtis. “No one knows that track better than him.”

Curtis is currently training 19 head at his hometown fairgrounds in Columbus Junction, IA. He is approaching 800 career training wins and has over $2.6 million in career earnings. Last year, he posted a career best 69 wins and $244,681 in purses.

A win in this year’s Milstein Memorial would bring in an additional $150,000 and a lifetime of memories for the Iowa connections.

The Milstein undercard will feature legs of the Ohio Sire Stakes for freshman colt pacers and 3-year-old colt trotters and $100,000 Invitationals for Ohio-breds. It’s Academic headlines the Tom Aldrich Trot and Bythemissal, the 2022 Little Brown Jug champ, expects to be the one to beat in the Myron Charna Pace.

The first post is scheduled for 6 p.m.

THE $300,000 CARL MILSTEIN MEMORIAL INVITATIONAL

PP — Horse — Listed Driver — Trainer

1. Seven Colors — Dexter Dunn — Andrew Harris

2. Buzzsaw Russ — John DeLong — Melissa Essig

3. Captain Batboy — Jordan Stratton — Tom Fanning

4. Redwood Hanover — James MacDonald — Anthony Beaton

5. Tip Top Cat — Yannick Gingras — Ron Burke

6. Goldin Greatness — David Miller — Chris Ryder

7. Save America — Scott Zeron — Nancy Takter

8. Chicken N Dice — Aaron Merriman — Curtis Carey

9. Thunder Hunter Joe — Tyler Buter — Nicholas Devita