from Meadowlands Media Relations

When New York Jets wide receiver Wayne Chrebet is not catching passes, he is chasing after a dream with a three-year-old trotter named Southwind Elian, who makes his next start in Friday night’s ninth race, the first of three $35,000 elimination races for the Stanley Dancer Trot at the Meadowlands.

From the 23 entered in the elims, the top three finishers from each division and the fastest fourth-place horse will advance to the $382,000 Stanley Dancer Final on Friday, July 16. The Dancer shares the Friday night spotlight with a trio of $25,000 eliminations for 25 three-year-old trotting fillies, vying for 10 spots in the $325,000 Delvin Miller Memorial.

The Dancer is the last stop on the road to the $1 million Hambletonian, which takes place at the Meadowlands on August 7 [eliminations on July 31], along with the $500,000 Hambletonian Oaks for fillies.

“I believe Southwind Elian is still a Hambletonian hopeful,” said the colt’s trainer, Kevin McDermott. “This horse is staked pretty good all year long, and I think I’ve been doing the right thing by dodging the big boys. Actually, if I had it my way, I wouldn’t even go to the Hambletonian. If he races really well in the Stanley Dancer, then we’ll give him a shot in the Hambletonian, or get him ready for the Kentucky Sires Stakes. Listen, I want to make money with the horse.

He’s competitive and he will trot in 1:53 this week. We’ll play it by ear.

“Last year, I was second choice in the Hambletonian Oaks [with Delmartha], got parked the mile and finished eighth,” noted McDermott.

“What fun is in that? I’d rather race Southwind Elian in the Townsend Ackerman for $50,000 if I thought he could win it, than finish ninth in a million-dollar race. I want to make money, and that’s just me. I think Wayne really wants to go to the Hambletonian.

“Truthfully, I can’t tell you how good this horse is going to be,” noted McDermott. “We haven’t seen his best, and he’s already made back $50,000 in just four starts. People from overseas are already asking about him. So, we’ll race him until the end of the year and then maybe sell him.”

That might be the correct business decision but Chrebet, 30, may not want to part with the horse.

“Wayne loves the horse business,” said McDermott. “He went to Woodbine, Hazel Park and the Meadows to watch Southwind Elian race.”

Chrebet’s passion for his horses is not limited to his stakes stars.

“I had a $20,000 claimer named Ruthless Red N who died on me a couple of weeks ago from a shattered pastern bone,” McDermott explained. “We brought him back to the farm to try to save him. At four o’clock in the morning, they finally had to convince Wayne that he had to be put down. Wayne wouldn’t leave because he wanted the horse to know right to the end that he was wanted. That’s what kind of person he is.

“We’ve become really good friends,” noted McDermott. “He [Chrebet] just completed 10 weeks of training camp with the New York Jets. He has four weeks off, then another six weeks of camp just before the season starts. He has passed all of his neurological tests, and. as of right now, he’s playing. He has 10 horses with me right now. I met him through [his Boys’ Club coach] Steve Wienick, who owned horse with me.

“This is what Wayne wants to do when he retires,” McDermott noted. “He eats and sleeps horses, and it’s not about the money. He just wants to have fun.”

The fun with Southwind Elian, who has three wins and three seconds in nine starts and $73,131 in earnings this year, began in mid-May when he was purchased by Chrebet’s Double Down Stables of Colts Neck, New Jersey. Chrebet has been racing horses at the Meadowlands since 2001.

“Bob Boni was the agent on the purchase and John Campbell owned the horse,” McDermott recalled. “Wayne Chrebet and myself were just

looking for a couple of nice two or three-year-olds, and this was one that came up. The other one was Quik Pulse Mindale, and we got beat out on him. But we could already double our money on this horse right now.

Campbell and I have been friends for a long time, and I was sold on the horse just by talking to him. John said, ‘If you don’t like this horse, than you don’t like horses.'”

McDermott likes the horse and knows the reasons that separate the colt from a great season so far.

“The other night [in the Currier & Ives at the Meadows on July 3] the track was really hard, and it was stinging his feet,” said McDermott of the colt’s second-place finish. “He was going to trot right by Eilean Donon [in his Goodtimes elimination on June 12] at Woodbine. [Driver] Brian Sears said he popped down the blinds, and he made a break coming out of the hole too fast. He has such a quick turn of speed. Brian was teed off because he said all he had to do was sit on him, and he would’ve made the final.” Instead, Southwind Elian won the consolation in 1:55.4

“We just turned out five of Wayne’s claiming horses who weren’t doing well right now, and we’re going to get them ready for [when the Meadowlands reopens in] November,” he noted. “We’ve got nine horses in the barn right now, and we’d love to buy another one like Southwind Elian.”