by Kimberly Rinker, for the Breeders Crown

Campbellville, ON — Despite being saddled with the ten hole in the $250,000 Breeders Crown Mare Trot Final, trainer Jim Raymer isn’t worried about Freeze Frame.

“This filly has a lot of gate speed and has the ability to overcome a tough post,” Raymer noted. “It’s up to her and Luc (driver Ouellette) now.”

Raymer, 54, trains the 4-year-old daughter of S J’s Photo for Trillium Racing Stable of Ontario and Sherri Meirs of Cream Ridge, N.J.

Ken Weingartner photo

Freeze Frame gets a rubdown from Sarah Scott.

“She came out of her elimination with no adverse effects,” Raymer added. “She’s very good right now. I left her up at Mohawk with (trainer) Chris Beaver, so she wouldn’t have to ship the eight hours back and forth again.”

Raymer, a native of Markham, Ontario, is stabled at Gingertree Farm in New Holland, Pa., where he conditions a stable of 10 — including $644,770 Yonkers Trot and $338,000 Nevele Pride winner Green Day.

“Luc (Ouellette) was going to come to Mohawk on Thursday to train her a little bit for me,” Raymer continued. “Just a little tightener before Saturday night.”

Raymer purchased the filly for just $15,000 at Harrisburg in November 2006. Since then she’s gone on to amass $95,459. She had earned $75,891 during her 2- and 3-year-old seasons.

“She was a pretty nice filly at 2 and 3 for Bill Fahy,” Raymer recalled. “He raced her in a lot of the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes and she did well ($33,380, 10 starts, 0-2-2) as a freshman. She got injured during her 3-year-old season (a mild suspensory) and I think that’s why they sold her.”

Freeze Frame made breaks for her new trainer in her first start for him on November 29 at The Meadowlands and then again in a December 11 conditioned event at Chester.

“I changed her shoes from steel to aluminum and that really helped her,” Raymer said. “Maybe she just needed to mature and learn to handle herself better. But I think the shoes really make a difference. It enabled her to go from being a 1:58 trotter to a 1:55 trotter.”

Raymer qualified Freeze Frame next on December 16 at The Meadowlands, and this time the filly responded, winning by nearly seven lengths in 1:56.2 with Raymer at the controls.

Partnered with Ouellette at Woodbine, Freeze Frame rattled off a trio of second-place finishes and one third in four starts, before shipping to the Meadowlands in early March.

She scored a second for driver Ron Pierce in 1:55.2, and then a disappointing sixth at The Big M before returning to her home state, where she was third on April 2 at the Poconos in a $16,000 Open with Raymer at the lines in 1:55.3, beaten only half a length.

She shipped to Dover on April 9 where she made a break for Ron Pierce, but returned to the Poconos, and a week later — united with her trainer — won a $14,000 conditioned trot handily in 1:56.1 by 7-1/4 lengths.

“I’ve trained a lot of the S J’s Photo horses and they can be slow to find their niche,” Raymer offered. “They kind of take their time and then all of a sudden — here they are. I always try to find the ones who’ve been so-so at 2 and 3, because as older horses they really seem to come around. I really believe that’s the case with this filly.”

After her Pocono victory, Raymer shipped Freeze Frame to The Meadowlands on May 5, where she finished a solid fourth to Susie’s Magic, Passionate Glide and Queen Serene, trotting in 1:54.1 for driver Cat Manzi.

Eleven days later she was back in the Poconos’ winner’s circle, after stopping the timer in 1:58.1 with Raymer in a $20,000 Open. She finished fifth, then third in her next two Pocono Opens, before shipping to Mohawk on June 16 where she was fifth in the $250,000 Classic Distaff.

Freeze Frame next scored a second (in 1:56.3) and a win (in 1:57.4) at Tioga Downs on June 23 and 30 before shipping to Harrah’s Chester, where she rattled off a pair of fourths and a second place finish. However, her August 11 race at Tioga wasn’t encouraging as she made multiple breaks.

“That was more the starter at Tioga Downs,” Raymer noted. “She hit the gate and made a break.”

The lengthy ship to Mohawk and change of scenery definitely seemed to agree with the late-blossoming filly, as she finished third in her Breeders Crown elim on August 25 to the winning Mystical Sunshine. She finished behind runner-up Susie’s Magic in 1:53.3, beaten 3-3/4 lengths.

“Luc (Ouellette) told me she was a little steppy, but the track was a little suspect because it had rained and they (the track crew) had worked it pretty good,” Raymer said. “Luc was happy with her and said he had horse left at the wire. She has a lot of raw speed.”

To date Raymer has conditioned 346 winners to $3,986,304 in career earnings, since taking up training in 1991. 2007 has been his best year to date with $892,569 to his credit from 138 starters, with 31 wins, 25 seconds and 17 thirds for a .366 UTR. Much of that success can be contributed to Freeze Frame and Green Day.

“I give a lot of credit to the breeding end of the business,” Raymer said. “I think there’s a lot of potential for people out there, because if you have a good sire — like S J’s Photo — who shows he’s a producer, it’s much easier to capitalize on that then it was years ago, due to developments in the breeding. Now, with AI (artificial insemination) a stallion can breed 250 mares, whereas in the past, with live cover as your only option, a stallion might only get 50 or 60 mares.

“Like with this filly, I think she’ll only get better with age. When I bought her, I was looking to get a $15 to $20,000 claimer, but she turned out to be much better than that, so I expect that the older she gets, the better she’ll get.

“Saturday night is all up to her now,” Raymer added. “She acclimatizes well to her surroundings and it doesn’t take her long to settle in somewhere. She seems to make the best of wherever she’s at.”