To watch a race replay of Testing Testing’s Breeders Crown elimination victory, click here.
To watch a race replay of Rebuff‘s Breeders Crown elimination victory, click here.
To watch a race replay of Branded By Lindy‘s Breeders Crown elimination victory, click here.

East Rutherford, NJ — Domenico Cecere trainee Branded By Lindy bolted clear of his competition to post the quickest victory of the three $25,000 eliminations for the Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Colt and Gelding Trot on Friday (Oct. 22) at The Meadowlands, stopping the clock in 1:53.

Branded By Lindy‘s 1:53 win was the fastest among three Breeders Crown eliminations for 2-year-old male trotters on Friday at The Meadowlands. Lisa Photo.

Yannick Gingras guided the 3-5 favorite with a sweeping move to lead, cutting a :57.2 half and three-quarters in 1:25.1 en route to a 2-3/4-length score over fast-charging Double Deceiver (David Miller). Fast As The Wind (Dexter Dunn) took third.

King Of The North (Mark MacDonald) followed Periculum (Mattais Melander) on the outside in pursuit, but to no avail. Global Pandemic (Tim Tetrick)was quick off the gate, but broke before the first quarter and did not recover while the others could not make any ground once Branded By Lindy got going.

Branded By Lindy, a son of Chapter Seven and The Lindy Label bred and owned by Lindy Farms of Connecticut, paid $3.00 to win. The colt raised his 2021 earnings to $165,550.

Gingras said, “He’s gotten better and better every week. This race was as easy as it looked. I just wanted to make sure we won the elimination. I thought he was the best, and he showed it.”

David Miller used Testing Testing twice in the mile to win the first $25,000 Breeders Crown elimination for 2-year-old male trotters in a lifetime mark of 1:53.4.

Testing Testing ground his way to a two-move win in the first Breeders Crown elimination. Lisa Photo.

Testing Testing made an early move to get the top, but settled behind S I P (Gingras) and a charging Temporal Hanover, who took the top over S I P in a :27.2 first panel. Temporal Hanover (Tetrick) commanded a :56 half with S I P behind him until Miller took Testing Testing first-over and gained ground with Letsdoit S (Brian Sears) getting live cover. Testing Testing won the challenge for the lead in a 1:24.3 three-quarter split. From there, Testing Testing rolled easily to a 1-1/4-length win. The late-closing Majestic J (Todd McCarthy) trotted by Letsdoit S to nab second with Temporal Hanover third.

George Ducharme trains Testing Testing, and the colt’s fourth win brings his earnings to $43,025 for owners William Donovan, Purnel & Libby, Joseph Rocco and Jim Winske. Warrawee Farm bred the son of Walner and Sound Check, who paid $7.00.

”He was a nice colt all winter,” Ducharme said, “I was high on him. The owners were gracious enough to let me do right by the horse.” Ducharme said drawing for posts one through five in the $600,000 final “certainly helps.”

Rebuff lived up to his name, holding off a host of late closers to round out the elimination winners among rookie male trotters. Lisa Photo.

In the second $25,000 elimination, 2-1 favorite Rebuff and Tim Tetrick held off late closers to win in 1:53.4. Rebuff relaxed in fourth off the gate with World At War Deo (Gingras) giving up the lead to Duly Resolved (Macdonell) at the :28.2 first quarter. The field went in single file to the :57.1 half when Slay aimed at the leader, forcing a duel at 1:26 three-quarters.

Duly Resolved held sway until mid-stretch before Gigondas took advantage of the duel and swept forward off cover. Rebuff, however, was fastest of all, coasting by the trio to win by 2-1/4 lengths. On the far outside Cool Papa Bell (Sears) soared, taking the show spot from Duly Resolved late.

Rebuff paid $6.00 to win.

Trainer Lucas Wallin co-owns Rebuff, a Muscle Hill-Meucci Madness colt who has now earned $144,095, with Kjell Magne Andersen and Pieter Delis. Steve Stewart and Michael Andrew bred the colt.

Wallin said Rebuff was talented — but green — from the beginning:

“The other owners let me take the time and race him from behind, and it started to pay off.”

In addition to the top three finishers from each elimination, Duly Resolved also advances to the final field as the highest earner on the year among the fourth-place finishers.

$600,000 Breeders Crown — 2-Year-Old Trotting Colts and Geldings
1. Cool Papa Bell  (Brian Sears, Jim Campbell)
2. Testing Testing  (David Miller, George Ducharme)
3. Branded By Lindy  (Yannick Gingras, Domenico Cecere)
4. Rebuff  (Tim Tetrick, Lucas Wallin)
5. Gigondas  (Todd McCarthy, Tony Alagna)
6. Double Deceiver  (David Miller, Carter Pinske)
7. Temporal Hanover  (Tim Tetrick, Marcus Melander)
8. Duly Resolved  (Paul MacDonell, John Bax)
9. Majestic J  (Todd McCarthy, Tony Alagna)
10. Fast As The Wind  (Dexter Dunn, Tony Alagna)
AE1. Letsdoit S (Brian Sears, Marcus Melander)
AE2. Threepointbluechip (James MacDonald, Jason McGinnis)