by Ellen Harvey, Harness Racing Communications

Freehold, NJ — Arctic Warrior has a chance to win the $1 million Meadowlands Pace this weekend, but he’ll need a big dose of luck to do it.

New Image Media photo

Arctic Warrior (#4) held off Bay Of Sharks by a half-length in last month’s North America Cup consolation at Mohawk.

The 3-year-old pacing gelding, trained by Sam Beegle, has post seven in the Pace on Saturday evening. His odds are 15-1. Arctic Warrior was bred by Beegle and his daughter, Beth Ann Cook, and has earned $237,794, with seven wins in 20 starts. He qualified for the Pace with a fifth-place finish in elimination races held on July 11. Beegle and Cook’s partners on the horse are Carl Vizzi, James Novinger, and Paul Eyerly.

Beegle, who is sending out a horse in a million-dollar race for the first time, notes that his horse was at a disadvantage in deep stretch of his elimination.

“He broke a headpole and it came dangling out,” he said. “It was a new headpole and the pin broke at the part where it hooks on to the head halter. David (driver David Miller) said he got to looking at it deep in the lane and it might have cost him third place, but not a lot.”

Beegle won’t have any particular instructions for Miller on Saturday.

“When I hand the lines to David, I turn the horse completely over to him, he’s the driver,” Beegle said. “If I thought I could drive him, I would drive him. I’m not going to tell David how to drive the horse.”

Beegle concedes that Well Said, the 6-5 favorite in the race, won’t be easily beatable.

“We’ve got to be able to get tight to him (Well Said) without using our horse and stay tight to him,” Beegle said. “I think we can hoof it pretty good at the end. We can come from a long ways out of it. But, everything’s going to have to work perfect for us to beat Well Said, and I mean perfect. And then, I’m not sure we can beat him. He is easily the class of the field.”

Arctic Warrior’s strong suit is his speed late in the mile.

“When we raced him in Canada (winning the North America Cup consolation in a career best 1:49.3), he’s a dead closer and he showed it,” Beegle said. “He showed pace up there, a (last) quarter in :26 on the end of it.”

Arctic Warrior is relaxing at Ginger Tree Farm in New Holland, Pa., this week, which is owned by Beegle and Vizzi.

“He’s home, playing, I’m not going to do much of anything (with him),” Beegle said. “I think the last five weeks he’s put in (five starts since June 1), he doesn’t need much. My daughter (Beth Ann Cook) takes excellent care of him, she sees that he gets anything he needs and he’s a horse that doesn’t need much. If you don’t look at him, you don’t know he’s there. Beth Ann is his caretaker and trainer.

“I’m just the trainer of record, she runs the show,” he laughed. “I think it’s a great honor to breed one and race him at the highest level of our sport.”

The horse’s name came from the Disney movie Eight Below, about sled dogs abandoned in the Arctic wilderness. In the movie, one of the dogs was named Warrior.

“I have five grandsons and each one of them get to name a foal,” Beegle said. “I asked the 14-year-old, Nicholas, who was 11 or 12 at the time, if he wanted to name this colt and he picked the name — Arctic Warrior.”