from the Meadowlands publicity department

East Rutherford, NJ — It will be a bittersweet moment for Sid Korn when Napoleon lines up behind the starting gate in the $500,000 Breeders Crown 3-year-old colt trot on Saturday night at the Meadowlands.

The colt represents a lifetime of racing hopes and dreams for Korn, ones he had hoped to share with his longtime partner, Alvin Jacobson. It was Jacobson who had insisted they breed Napoleon’s mother to Credit Winner four years ago. But Jacobson passed away May 8, 2007, just two months before Napoleon made his racing debut.

“Alvin bred a lot of horses, and with this one he brought me along kicking and screaming,” Korn said. “Unfortunately, he passed away last May and never got to see the fruit of his labor, so to speak. This horse is absolutely his legacy.”

Napoleon enters the Breeders Crown with a record of 10 wins in 23 career starts and $682,959 in earnings. He is rated at 15-1 from post five in the sixth race championship and will take on a field that includes Horse of the Year candidate Deweycheatumnhowe.

Post time is 7:00 p.m. for the Breeders Crown card, which features $4.9 million in championships for 2- and 3-year-old trotters and pacers.

Korn and Jacobson purchased Napoleon’s dam, Growth Spurt, for $22,000 as a yearling. Though she looked promising training down as a 2-year-old for Bernard Grignola, she was plagued by soreness and a tendon injury. The two owners were conflicted about her future.

“Alvin decided he wanted to breed her and I definitely didn’t,” Korn said. “I wanted to bring her back to the races. Fortunately, he won that argument and he bred her to Credit Winner.”

Korn and Jacobson co-owned 30 horses together, including two-time Breeders Crown winner Mystical Sunshine.

“Alvin missed out on Mystical Sunshine’s dream season (in 2007) and this, so it hurts a little bit,” he said.

Jacobson’s family decided to dissolve their racing interests after his death, so Korn brought in partners Kenneth Tucci, Larry Thomases and John Guarniere, who purchased Jacobsen’s share of Napoleon and two other horses.

“We’ve all been in the business for a long time,” Korn said. “For all of us, this is a dream come true. None of us has been in the Hambletonian, and hopefully we can make it.”

New York-based trainer Syl King, Jr. developed Napoleon at two and guided him through his first few starts; Noel Daley took over the training duties after the Meadowlands meet ended last August.

“The first race (Daley) had the horse was the New York Sires Stakes at Monticello (on August 28, 2007),” Korn recalled. “He went off as the favorite and broke stride in the first turn. He fell back to last and then dragged (driver) Stephane Bouchard to the top. Coming to the half we figured, maybe he’ll hold on for a piece after that exertion. Then, he was challenged and just pulled away in the stretch. That’s when we knew we had something special.”

Korn credits Stephane Bouchard’s advice as being one of the keys to Napoleon’s development.

“We liked the way he didn’t panic when the horse made a break that day,” Korn said. “He also came up with some ideas. He suggested bridle changes and using toe weights.”

Napoleon went on to win the $150,000 New York Sires Stakes Championship on September 15, 2007 at Yonkers, closing out his freshman season with five wins and two seconds in eight starts. Unfortunately, that momentum slipped away as the colt began his sophomore campaign. He broke stride in two pre-season qualifiers and his 2008 debut, the eliminations for the Dexter Cup on May 3 at Freehold.

“He trained down in Florida over the winter and he came back suddenly not liking dirt kicked in his face,” Korn said. “It got progressively worse and he started making breaks. Noel Daley fooled around with a lot of different masks and training techniques. He has the problem under control now. He wears a mask and we call him the Masked Marvel.”

With that problem behind him, Napoleon won a Currier and Ives division at the Meadows and set a 1:57.1 Monticello track record in a NYSS leg on June 11. He scored his biggest win to date in the $605,854 Yonkers Trot on June 27. Holiday Credit appeared to be on his way to victory in the stretch, but a late miscue allowed Napoleon to swoop in for a nose victory over Make It Happen.

“We felt the Yonkers Trot was his best shot at a big money race and we knew he was handy on a half-mile track,” Korn said. “We drew terribly in the elimination (post eight), but then we got the two-hole in the final.”

Napoleon tuned up for the Hambletonian with a 16 length romp in a NYSS leg at Vernon Downs, but a fourth-place finish in his elimination kept him out of the $1.5 million final. The colt bounced back to win the Townsend Ackerman on Hambletonian Day by 2-3/4 lengths in a career best 1:53.

While he has not found the winner’s circle since then, Napoleon has picked up a hefty $74,000 check in the Canadian Trotting Classic on September 13 at Mohawk. He enters Saturday’s Breeders Crown off a sixth-place finish in the Matron at Dover, in which he came first up and faded to a well-distanced sixth, 24 lengths behind winner Crazed.