Meadowlands Racetrack hosted a star-studded session of qualifiers on Saturday, April 20, featuring returning O'Brien Award winners and world champions preparing for the 2024 stakes season.
Harness racing's fastest three-year-old on a half-mile track is Seven Colors, and the now four-year-old showed he's no horse for a course with a solid performance in his 2024 debut. After fractions of :29, :57.3 and 1:25.3 for driver Dexter Dunn, Seven Colors cruised home in :26.2 to trip the timer in 1:52. North America Cup elim winner Fulton finished second, 3-1/2 lengths back for driver Scott Zeron.
Trained and co-owned by Andrew Harris, Seven Colors (Stay Hungry - Rainbowinthedark) is co-owned by William Pollock and Bruce Areman of Freehold, N.J. A winner of more than $706,000 in his career, Seven Colors sports a mark of 1:48.1h taken in the 2023 Milstein Memorial at Northfield Park. That mile time is the fastest ever by a sophomore over a half-mile oval.
Not to be outdone, 2023 Little Brown Jug winner (over Seven Colors) and 2023 North America Cup champion Its My Show paced to a 1:52.1 score in his first outing of the season for trainer Linda Toscano, driver Scott Zeron and Florida-based owners Richard & Joanne Young. Sitting third as 2023 O'Brien Award finalist Moment Is Here (Tim Tetrick) cut splits of :28.2, :56.4 and 1:26.1, Its My Show was shown racetrack in the stretch and responded willingly, pacing home in :25.3 to best Macs Delight (Andrew McCarthy) by a long neck.
A world champion in his own right, Its My Show (Sweet Lou - Put On A Show) sports a mark of 1:46.4 taken at The Red Mile that placed him as the sport's fastest three-year-old pacing gelding on a one-mile track. He's a nine-time winner in his career with more than $1.26 million in earnings.
Quite often, a :25.3 final quarter in the month of April would be the fastest on the card. Not today. A fastest last quarter came courtesy 2023 O'Brien Award winner Pass Line and driver Yannick Gingras. That tandem tracked pacesetter Asweetbeachhere (David Miller) from the back of the pack during the 14th qualifier of the morning. After what the crew from Letterkenny would likely call -- for this group -- supersoft fractions of :30.3, 1:00.3 and 1:29, Asweetbeachhere closed in :26 to hit the wire in 1:55.
In her first sophomore appearance, Pass Line paced home in a charted :25.1 to finish just over a length back in second.
Showing just as much speed as the older and more established stars, 2023 Governors Cup winner Captain Luke and driver Todd McCarthy didn't need to use the force to hold off their fellow qualifiers, pacing home in :26 and winning on the engine in 1:52 over Ontario Sires Stakes competitors Total Stranger (Gingras) and Mirage Hanover (Tetrick).
Finding his stride at The Big M late last season after the addition of lasix, Captain Luke (Captaintreacherous - Bodacious Hanover) was a two-time winner in 2023 for trainer Tony Alagna and owners Brad Grant, Robert Leblanc, Pryde Stables Inc. and Steven Head. He took his mark of 1:51 in that Governors Cup win, a tally that provided the bulk of his $362,000 bankroll.
(Standardbred Canada; horses featured include Its My Show [credit: Conrad Photo], Seven Colors [credit: Casalinova Photo], Asweetbeachhere [credit: Chris Gooden], Captain Luke [credit: Lisa Photo])