Reflections on an utterly fantastic Hambletonian Day card

by Brett Sturman

Highlighted by a stretch duel in Hambletonian 101 that will be cemented into harness racing history, here’s my reflections on this year’s memorable Saturday (Aug. 8) card from The Meadowlands that had a little bit of everything.

The stretch show put on between Apex and Big Ranger along with their Hall of Fame drivers Dexter Dunn and Tim Tetrick in the Hambletonian was one of those rare, genuinely electric moments for the sport. My reaction when watching in real-time was that Apex did hold on, though the track-level camera angle that followed gave pause to that assessment, before I was ultimately proven correct. Having watched the replay 100 times since, it’s hard to tell if Big Ranger was ever in front of Apex at any point, even where it seemed like he finally had enough momentum to push by. Just an unbelievable performance from both.

In critiques of the runner-up’s effort, I’ve seen some of the commentary on social media that said Tetrick should have placed Big Ranger on the lead as had been customary for the horse or at least have made it harder for Apex to clear the lead himself. I’m not one to shy away from driver criticism where warranted, but this is one of those situations where both drivers put both their horses in clear positions to win. What more could you ask for?

One of my friends emailed me following the race and in just a few words, summed it up best. Regarding the narrowest margin, he said, “That’s Dunn, that’s his talent.” And he’s right. Dunn’s ability to seemingly always make the right moves and get the absolute most from his horse was the difference. But looking at it from a Tetrick standpoint, it took a ridiculous record time of 1:49.2 for him and Big Ranger to be denied. Last year’s Hambletonian of 1:50 set a record that lasted for just one year, before being smashed by Apex and Big Ranger. There’s nothing more that either driver possibly could have done to get more out of their respective drives than they did.

For Dunn, the win completed a Meadowlands Pace and Hambletonian sweep and has Dunn on track with a vengeance to reclaim the Driver of the Year Award. And whereas he did it on the lead with Apex, Dunn came first-up from third with Super Chapter to beat Lexus Kody in a stretch drive itself that would have been all the talk if not for that Hambletonian finish a short time later.

Tetrick had a fine day too, driving three winners including the engineering of an off-the-pace 14-1 upset win in the $310,750 Cane Pace with Sweet Lovin Lou, the first time he’s driven the horse. Scott Zeron was first slated to drive Sweet Lovin Lou as well as winner Nezuko Kamado S in the $500,000 Winning Key Farm Hambletonian Oaks but unfortunately missed the day, as did Jason Bartlett, as a result of an accident at Yonkers Raceway two days prior.

Nezuko Kamado S, who has been one of the top fillies in her crop the last two seasons, was just a neck away in her elimination from still being perfect on the year, and she was a worthy Oaks winner. I was really impressed though throughout the Oaks eliminations and final by the filly Carve. Following a strong elimination finish the week prior, she was locked in behind Nezuko Kamado S while loaded and sprinted towards the very end when free too late; it will be interesting to see if those two can form a rivalry as the season goes on.

As for select owners’ colors on drivers in stakes races, I’m not a fan. In the overall scheme of things, I suppose it’s harmless, but my preference would be to keep the owners’ colors for the thoroughbreds and drivers’ colors for harness racing. It’s confusing when it’s randomly mixed and matched on days such as the Hambletonian card.

I don’t think anyone understands — me included — exactly just how odds change so much in the seconds leading up to a race. In the $50,000 Muscle Hill, Nix Nacken would have likely gone off at somewhere around 2-5 while Inexpressable would have gone off at 5-2 or higher in a normal run-up to the start. But Nix Nacken broke a solid 10 seconds before the official start and as a result the odds changed dramatically, with Inexpressable going off as the 6-5 favorite and Nix Nacken at 9-5. Amazingly he still almost won the race but that’s beside the point.

In the old days the explanation would be “gate punchers,” people who are standing at physical machines to alter their tickets in the final seconds. But today, almost all wagering is virtual, and for many people some of their video streaming could be on slight delay. So, where is the massive altering of late money coming from? This might be a wild theory, but in today’s age of AI “agents” — essentially AI that can do things entirely on its own without human intervention — I wouldn’t be surprised if AI from the CAWs is autonomous enough to make decisions on what it sees visually (Nix Nacken breaking, for example) and then update all wagers on its own. Is that a crazy theory? What other theories are there? Maybe but probably not, one day wagering will be shut off earlier, as to give all players a fairer chance.

In the $183,600 John Steele Memorial, I touted the longshot Tactical Moni in last week’s column. I focused on the barn change and subsequent qualifier as my rationale and actually expected her to be one of the favorites despite a 15-1 morning line, but the public didn’t see it that way at all as she was let go at 22-1 to just miss by a neck when finishing second to Walspea and probably would have won if put into play earlier in the mile. Trainers and barn changes rule this sport.

Which brings us to the winner of the $40,000 open from Saturday, Best Chip. Despite being parked past the half-mile in :53.3, Best Chip rolled his way to a win, stopping the clock in 1:46.1, becoming the fifth-fastest horse in harness racing history while also beating his win time from the prior race of 1:46.2. What makes the 1:46.1 even more impressive is how much faster it was than the two separate McKee splits for FFA pacers later on the same card. Women Layer won his split in 1:48.2, while Captain Albano won his division in 1:48.3 – both over two full seconds slower than Best Chip. And it’s not like the track was playing any slower by that time because immediately before those two races was that 1:49.2 record-smashing Hambletonian.

Sangria Summer and Darlin’s Angel both raced super in their fast 1-2 finish in the Shady Daisy but I was a little surprised by the defeat of Be Perfect BG. Ever since they dueled a month ago in the Jerry Silverman, Loua Dipa had that ill-fated Adios try and now Be Perfect BG falling short in the Shady Daisy; I wonder if that race took a little something out of both fillies.

Handle for the 16-race Hambletonian card was $6.16 million, down from all recent year’s handle in the mid-to-upper $7’s. It is certainly a troubling trend, as handle for this year’s Meadowlands Pace was off over a million too from last year’s.

Was Saturday the final Hambletonian ever conducted at The Meadowlands? It was confirmed to me on Monday that the Hambletonian Society plans to meet this week to determine the site of the 2027 race. With so much at stake not only for The Meadowlands and New Jersey but also for harness racing, it seems unlikely the Hambletonian would be awarded anywhere other than The Meadowlands, but we will find out very soon what the race’s immediate future holds.