We saw the likes of him at three, first, when this blog
began, in May, as Market Share easily won his Dexter Cup elimination mile
easily as the 4-5 favorite at Freehold.
We went against him in the final, a good move, giving out
Not Afraid and Frost Bites K. The decision was great for bettors because Not
Afraid’s win price was $17 and the exacta with Frost Bites K was worth $184.80.
Market Share broke and was out of the Dexter Cup Final picture.
But on Aug. 4 at the Meadowlands, there was no sign of Not
Afraid or Frost Bites K as the Hambletonian Final’s field lined up. Market
Share was present, leaving from post 2 after winning his elimination mile the
week before, and he won the $1.5-million event.
That elimination win was strong but it included a simple
touch of fate as well. Little Brown Fox, arguably a major contender for the
Hambo crown, broke and was eliminated from the 2012 Hambletonian.
The night before the Hambletonian, Little Brown Fox won the
Townsend-Ackerman, a $50,000 event that featured other colts that either did
not make it to the Hambo elims or final and if you believe in speed you will
agree that Little Brown Fox trotted a faster mile than Market Share’s time
winning the major event.
It is a moot point, for sure, though we wish to take nothing
away from Market Share’s victory, but it shows the immeasurable number of
incidents that conspire to create a winner for the coveted event.
History is strewn with bad situations for some that become
ingredients for successes of others and certainly Hambletonian history is not
immune from such fates. Many of us recall the year Tagliabue won the
Hambletonian, a victory aided by an elim misstep that knocked out one of the
greatest trotters of our time, the filly CR Kay Suzie, from contention in the
final.
As well, consider what happened to Check Me Out in the
Hambletonian Oaks Final. Rarely jumping in her career, she took a bad step
leading in the event and lost. That race was about the only thing that could’ve
stopped her from beating foes that she dominated throughout her two- and
three-year-old seasons. Murphy’s Law prevailed, as fate would have it, and the
worst that could happen did happen in the “Oaks.”
Oddly enough, it was not a breaking problem that kept her
from racing with the boys in the Hambletonian final, where she would definitely
have been a major factor. Her connections decision to leave her race against
her own sex was based upon how strenuous it would have been in the colt
division considering the thick competition this year. That decision also
assisted the success of Market Share and fate took other steps, so to speak, to
see to it that the “safer” decision about which division the great filly should
challenge was also moot and a matter of chance.
In 2012, the sophomore-colt trotter crop is thick with
competition. Certainly Market Share did not dominate from May until August,
having been beaten by a lot of the colts that either made it or did not make it
into the final field.
During the season, Market Share had been beaten by
Archangel, Beer Summit, Little Brown Fox, Big Chocolate and as mentioned
previously, Not Afraid. All of them, except Not Afraid, who went on hiatus for
unreported reasons after a scratch from the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes (PASS) on
May 30, are still battling for top money in the division now.
Aside from the aforementioned Little Brown Fox victory, Top
Billing, Frost Bites K and Solvato recently won lucrative PASS splits.
Other divisional members have been riding success while off
the Hambletonian grid. Coraggioso, Delano, Nothing But Class, Fashion Astral
and the strangely gaited Googoo Gaagaa (the trotter with the pacing sire) could
return after a few mishaps as a main divisional contender.
Nor will Market Share’s Hambo foes lay off fighting for big
purse money. We have not heard the last from Uncle Peter, Guccio and other
Jimmy Takter students. And My Mvp is coming out of the second-tier category to
pose threats, while Kadabra-colts Prestidigitator and Knows Nothing have more
in their tanks, as do Stormin Normand, Archangel, Money On My Mind and Gym Tan
Laundry.
The remainder of the season is as unpredictable as anything
that has happened already to the winners and losers of either division. With no
prohibitive leader of the colts and the questionable condition of Check Me Out,
plenty of great racing among the sophomore trotters will ensue as the Breeders
Crown countdown begins. This can only benefit bettors as the competition stays
thick through the second half of the season.
Congratulations to the Hambletonian’s first woman trainer,
Linda Toscano, and to driver Tim Tetrick on his first win in the event.
The complete archives of divisional events from May through
the Hambletonian are available at the Hambletonian
Society’s website.
No comments:
Post a Comment