by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — Homer Hochstetler is sweet on Big Chocolate.

Last season as a 2-year-old, Big Chocolate won two of 11 races, finished second on five occasions, and earned $201,560. His victories included a division of the International Stallion Stakes at Lexington’s Red Mile and he was second to Possess The Will in a division of the Bluegrass.

Only four 2-year-olds trotted a mile faster than Big Chocolate’s best win time of 1:54.3, set in the International Stallion, and he was rated No. 15 in March’s Hoof Beats/TrackMaster Predictive Rankings for 3-year-old trotters.

Bred and owned by Chicago’s Richard Keys, Big Chocolate might qualify next week at Balmoral Park. Hochstetler has circled the New Jersey Sire Stakes in mid-May as the colt’s first challenge. Big Chocolate was second to Vic Smith in last year’s New Jersey Sire Stakes championship at the Meadowlands.

Nigel Soult photo

Big Chocolate banked $201,560 as a freshman and took a mark of 1:54.3 at The Red Mile.

“He had a good winter,” Hochstetler said. “I worked him Monday in (1):58 and he was real nice. Things are going pretty good with him. I’ll try to be ready for the first New Jersey Sire Stakes. It’s a little earlier than I wanted to be ready, but they moved it up so I’m going to try to be ready. I think he’s ready.

“He didn’t get a lot bigger (over the winter) because he was big anyway. But mentally I think he’s much more mature than he was last year. He’s never acted bad, but everything has been like clockwork training down. It seems to me that it’s much easier for him; he’s relaxed and nice. Every day has been a good day so far. We’ll see.”

Despite dealing with a foot issue early in his 2-year-old season, Big Chocolate got his first win in his elimination for the Peter Haughton Memorial, where he defeated Power Play by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:57. In the $400,000 final, he was in second place on the final turn, but Hochstetler encountered some steering difficulty and the colt dropped back to fourth before rallying to finish third, and nearly getting up for second.

“I almost lost him at the head of the stretch,” said Hochstetler, who drove Big Chocolate in his first eight races before turning over the lines to David Miller. “I don’t know if he thought he was going to the paddock, but he got crooked on me there. But he came back and finished strong.”

Big Chocolate’s win in the International Stallion appeared to set up the colt for a strong performance in the Breeders Crown two weeks later at Woodbine Racetrack in Ontario, but he went off stride in his elimination and failed to advance to the final. It was Big Chocolate’s last start of the campaign.

“We don’t really know why that was, but it happens,” Hochstetler said. “David really had no explanation for it and I didn’t either. Everything has been good since then, so I guess it was just one of those days. He’s showed no sign of anything like that since then.

“He was battling a bladder or kidney problem going up there right after Lexington; we couldn’t really put a thumb on it,” Hochstetler added. “He lost quite a bit of weight at one time there, but we got that straightened out and it seems like he’s good to go.”

Big Chocolate, a son of Chocolatier out of the mare Shez Mine, has a number of major stakes on his schedule this year, but nothing bigger than August’s $1.5 million Hambletonian. Hochstetler’s Whit reached the Hambletonian final last year.

“That’s everybody’s big target, but there are lots of other races, too, and hopefully we’ll do some good,” Hochstetler said. “If we have a little luck this year I think we’ll be a player.”