by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

East Rutherford, NJ — Check Me Out, the No. 1-ranked horse in the weekly harness racing Top 10 poll, will start from post two and was made the 4-5 morning line favorite for Saturday afternoon’s $714,050 Hambletonian Oaks for 3-year-old filly trotters at Meadowlands Racetrack.

USTA/Ken Weingartner photo

Check Me Out is the 4-5 morning line favorite in the Hambletonian Oaks.

Driver Tim Tetrick selected the starting spot for Check Me Out on behalf of trainer Ray Schnittker, who owns the filly with Charles Iannazzo. The connections of Check Me Out and Maven picked their post position thanks to winning their respective Hambletonian Oaks elimination races last Saturday.

Maven’s trainer, Jonas Czernyson, selected first and picked post three at the suggestion of driver Yannick Gingras.

Check Me Out won her Hambletonian Oaks elimination by 2-3/4 lengths in 1:53.4 while Maven was victorious by three lengths in a career-best 1:52.4.

Maven handed Check Me Out her only loss this season, a 1-1/4 length setback in 1:53.4 in a $68,778 division of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes at The Meadows on May 15 in the first race of the season for both fillies. Check Me Out turned the tables in the $519,400 Elegantimage Stakes on June 16 at Mohawk Raceway, edging Maven by a nose in 1:52.1.

Check Me Out was voted unanimously last season’s Dan Patch Award winner for best 2-year-old filly trotter. She has won 20 of 23 career races, including last year’s Breeders Crown and Merrie Annabelle stakes, and finished second in her three losses.

She has earned $1.49 million in her career and with a win in the Hambletonian Oaks will become the richest filly trotter in history (based on combined earnings at ages 2 and 3). Passionate Glide holds the record for highest earnings by a filly trotter, having won a total of $1.72 million in her 2- and 3-year-old campaigns.

Maven, owned by William Donovan, enters the Hambletonian Oaks final with 12 wins in 18 career starts and $418,474 in purses.

$714,050 Hambletonian Oaks
Post-Horse-Driver-Trainer-Line
1-Superstar Hanover-Jimmy Takter-Takter-15-1
2-Check Me Out-Tim-Tetrick-Ray Schnittker-4-5
3-Maven-Yannick Gingras-Jonas Czernyson-5-2
4-Personal Style-David Miller-R. Nifty Norman-12-1
5-Uncommon Night-George Brennan-Dewayne Minor-15-1
6-Real Babe-Ray Schnittker-Schnittker-20-1
7-Win Missy B-Brian Sears-Charlie Norris-8-1
8-Dream On Hanover-George Brennan-Staffan Lind-30-1
9-Holier Than Thou-Ron Pierce-Jonas Czernyson-20-1
10-Sassy Syrinx-Jim Morrill, Jr.-David Smith-30-1