by Rich Fisher, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Rich Fisher

Trenton, NJ — While some trainers might be upset they were unable to get their prized horse to the breeding shed, Paula Wellwood and Mike Keeling feel it’s a pretty good consolation prize that Marion Marauder can still race and will be on the track in Saturday’s $458,750 Hambletonian Maturity for 4-year-olds at the Meadowlands.

Actually, it’s more than just a consolation. It’s almost as if divine intervention transformed a hard choice into a no-brainer.

“As my husband was quoted as saying, it was the easiest tough decision we ever made,” said Wellwood, who trains the 2016 Trotter of the Year and Trotting Triple Crown winner with her spouse, Keeling.

The connections, which include owners Devin Keeling (the couple’s son) and Marion Jean Wellwood (Paula’s mom) and driver Scott Zeron, were being urged to put Marion Marauder out to stud after his 3-year-old season. He could not breed a full book, however, and Wellwood-Keeling were almost relieved rather than disappointed.

“Before anything got even serious we just pulled the plug,” Wellwood said. “We never had any issues with racing him again. It was never a concern. We called everything off. It was very quickly that we just pulled the plug.

Lisa photo

Marion Marauder won the $240,000 Graduate Series final on July 8 in 1:51.2.

“To be quite honest we didn’t want to say goodbye to him. It was kind of everybody was telling us it’s the thing you should do, and I guess you should. But he just couldn’t breed a full book. We were going to syndicate him but we didn’t want to get involved in anything like that so we just called it off fast. It was just immediate.”

And unanimous.

“There was no question in any of our minds or hearts,” Wellwood said. “It was fine.”

Why wouldn’t it be after what he has shown?

A son of Muscle Hill out of the mare Spellbound Hanover, Marion Marauder has won 13 of 31 career races and earned $1.9 million. The 2016 season defied description, with 10 wins in 15 starts, with the highlights being Marion Marauder’s victories in the Hambletonian, Yonkers Trot and Kentucky Futurity.

Wellwood finally got to enjoy it all after the year ended. The daughter of late Hall of Fame trainer Bill Wellwood refused to dwell on, or celebrate, anything during last season’s run because her focus was on getting the horse ready.

When winter arrived, she took time to reflect upon all the success.

“I couldn’t believe it, it was just mind boggling,” Wellwood said. “You just smile and you really don’t believe it happened. It still seems surreal. I’d watch some videos sometimes. You actually pick up more when you sit back and watch it. You’re like ‘Oh really, oh that was nice!’ You can see everything.”

And just sit back and smile?

“Basically,” she said.

Once the breeding shed was closed for business, Marion Marauder returned to work in March after a lengthy turnout. He appears more than ready to take on the most challenging year in a horse’s career.

“He’s bigger, stronger; he did all the right things the way that they’re supposed to do,” Wellwood said. “He’s really not any different than bringing him back for his 3-year-old year. As far as mannerisms and training down, he was easy.

“He does everything on his own schedule. He knows when it’s really time to go and he’s just a smart, very easy horse to train. Nothing’s changed. Obviously, he still has his desire to win.”

That he does. He won his seasonal debut in a preliminary round of the Graduate Series, which is reserved for 4-year-olds, at Tioga Downs before facing open company in the preferred at Mohawk, where he finished third. Then last Saturday he became the first Trotting Triple Crown winner to compete at the Meadowlands as a 4-year-old, winning the $240,000 Graduate Series final in 1:51.2.

Now comes the Hambletonian Maturity, which will be contested at the distance of 1-1/8 miles with a field of nine. Marion Marauder will start from post three.

The Hambletonian Maturity is part of a stakes-packed card at the Meadowlands on Saturday, with an earlier-than-usual 6:30 p.m. post time for the first race. The $738,550 Crawford Farms Meadowlands Pace will air live on cable’s SNY from 9-10 p.m., with the Hambletonian Maturity also part of the broadcast.

“We’ve been cautious with him,” Wellwood said. “We raced him at Tioga then we gave him three weeks off. We just don’t want to jam him up with starts. We still want to keep it on a limited schedule this year because it’s a 4-year-old year, a transition year and it can be very hard on him. We just want to take it easy and hopefully gear up for more races next year. We’ll definitely be racing him next year.”

The Hambletonian Maturity will be Marion Marauder’s final race against solely 4-year-olds and from there it is all open events. The trainers are considering racing him in the inaugural $250,000 Spirit of Massachusetts Trot — the richest harness horse race in state history — on July 28. But they are mainly concerned with the John Cashman Memorial on Hambletonian Day, which is Aug. 5 at the Meadowlands.

Wellwood insists, however, that nothing is etched in stone and it all depends on the horse.

“We’ll let him tell us,” she said. “If he wants to race, he’ll race. He lets you know, he’s good at that. There’s no pressure this year. He’s done so much that anything he does now is just like a bonus. We let him really dictate what he wants to do. He hasn’t changed in training. He’s exactly the same with the same personality.”

And the same driver, as Zeron is back in the bike after enjoying last year’s drives to glory.

“He was very happy he’s back racing,” Wellwood said. “As you see, he’s very calm, cool and collected when he drives him. He’s got a lot of confidence in him. Those two are the perfect marriage.”

And the wedding vows are still intact even though kids don’t appear to be in the future.

Following is the field for the Hambletonian Maturity in post order with listed drivers and trainers.

PP-Horse-Driver-Trainer
1-Celebrity Eventsy-Christian Lind-Staffan Lind
2-Taco Tuesday-Jim Morrill Jr.-G. Buzzy Sholty
3-Marion Marauder-Scott Zeron-Paula Wellwood
4-Dayson-Yannick Gingras-Ron Burke
5-Warrawee Roo-Daniel Dube-Luc Blais
6-Double L Lindy-Ake Svanstedt-Ake Svanstedt
7-Truemass Volo-Jeff Gregory-Jeff Gregory
8-Trolley-Marcus Miller-Erv Miller
9-Cufflink Hanover-Corey Callahan-John Butenschoen