by Jay Bergman, for the Breeders Crown

Cranbury, NJ — Each year the battle for the Breeders Crown is waged with divisional honors hanging in the balance. Rarely, if ever, has there been a field assembled with as many as five different horses who could catapult to the top of the division with a Crown triumph. Such is the case this year as legitimate contenders and major race winners in the signature 3-year-old sophomore pacing colt division vie for the Dan Patch title.

North America Cup winner Up The Credit should like the home cooking. Meadowlands Pace and Battle of the Brandywine winner Roll With Joe tries to seal it. Hoosier Cup winner Custard The Dragon will try to rebound from some late season woes. Then there is the lightly staked Alsace Hanover, an impressive winner in the Adios and a recent Red Mile winner to contend with. And let’s not leave off Big Bad John. His signature Little Brown Jug victory has to put him high on the list of those who could swipe the year-end hardware with a major effort on Oct. 29. Nor should Casie Coleman’s appropriately named Betterthancheddar be counted out. He was an also ran until his explosive effort in the twice-moved Cane Pace at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.

Those may be the top six contenders but they won’t be able to make it to the $600,000 final without first stopping at Woodbine this Saturday night and earning a berth in two elimination races. At stake is not just a slot in the final, but each elimination winner earns the right to select a quality post position in the final that has so much riding on it.

The beauty of this sophomore pacing season has been that it truly belongs to no one and despite enough major events the door is wide-open for a candidate to secure the division.

Driver Ron Pierce is in the midst of maybe his greatest season ever and had to make a choice earlier in the year between Roll With Joe and Alsace Hanover. He confided that he only made the call to Roll With Joe because he has a future stallion career while gelding Alsace Hanover must earn his keep on the racetrack. Roll With Joe was brilliant in the Meadowlands Pace and extremely game in the Battle of the Brandywine. Yet he was on even terms with Big Bad John in the Jug and couldn’t get by the Ohio-trained colt. His disappointing effort in the Cane can be attributed to a tough post and a brutal trip.

For Up The Credit, who peaked early to win the year’s richest event, the C$1.5 million North America Cup at Mohawk, a return to Woodbine could be just what the doctor ordered. The son of Western Terror has a wicked kick and a month ago showed that he could still fly with a 1:49.1 mile in the Simcoe at Mohawk.

For Big Bad John, much had been expected and with 10 wins in 13 starts his record is impressive. Until his victory in the Jug though, Big Bad John did not have a signature win. Yet there clearly isn’t a hotter 3-year-old pacing colt in North America as the group heads to the big dance. Big Bad John has won four straight heading into Saturday’s elimination. Perhaps the biggest blemish on a stellar card was Big Bad John’s fifth place finish as the favorite in the North America Cup at Mohawk in June after a scintillating elimination win. Big Bad John needs to do in October in Ontario what he couldn’t in June.

Alsace Hanover seemed more destined for non-winners company than any date with Breeders Crown destiny when he first qualified at the Meadowlands this past March. In three races (two qualifiers), The Panderosa-sired gelding lost by a combined 59 lengths! The colt showed rapid improvement and by late June he was a solid second in the Hoosier Cup, and a month later posted back-to-back 1:48.4 and 1:48.3 miles, winning both an Adios elimination and the final at The Meadows. The colt was at his best in the August Battle of the the Brandywine but came up a nose short to Roll With Joe in one of the better stretch battles of the year. Known for his exceptional closing kick, Alsace Hanover prepped for the Crown with a victory in a division of the Tattersalls, barely holding on while racing on the front end.

There may not be a faster horse in this division than Custard The Dragon when he’s on his A-game. Unfortunately, the Hoosier Cup champ, who also captured eliminations of the Adios and Meadowlands Pace, has had a rough go in the late season. Trainer George Teague, Jr. has done a masterful training job with this progeny of Dragon Again and his young son Montrell has enjoyed some memorable miles in the bike. A big qualifier at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs last week could mean he’s ready to rebound.

Certainly it would be foolish to rule out Betterthancheddar. Trainer Casie Coleman has emerged with an extraordinary array of stakes pacing talent over the last few years. When the Bettor’s Delight colt paced a back half in :53 in a sub-1:50 mile in just his third career start in late May the sky was the limit. But when the colt didn’t qualify for the North America Cup final and finished last in the Meadowlands Pace it was time to retool. When Betterthancheddar showed up in the Cane on Sept. 10 driver Yannick Gingras followed Coleman’s instructions and drove him like he was “the best.” Indeed that proved to be the case when he scored a career best 1:49.2 mile in the Triple Crown event. The colt freshened with an impressive tune-up last week over a Woodbine oval which has yielded deceptively slow times since re-opening a few weeks ago.

The 3-year-olds will go in two $25,000 (U.S.) divisions as races 10 and 11 on Saturday’s stellar Woodbine program. Post positions for the final will be drawn at the Breeders Crown press conference at WEGZ stadium Club on Tuesday (Oct. 25).

Here are the fields for Saturday’s eliminations.