by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Toronto, ON — Owner Tristan Sjoberg will be watching Dupree in Saturday’s $600,000 Breeders Crown for 2-year-old male trotters at Woodbine Racetrack, but regardless of the horse’s performance he is already feeling out of this world.

Sjoberg, who is among the owners of rare white pacing colt White Bliss, said this week via e-mail that he has bought another rare white horse — this one a filly trotter born on April 4, 2014 in Italy. The filly, bred by Sergio Carfagna in Assisi, is named Via Lattea, which translates to Milky Way.

Photo courtesy of Tristan Sjoberg

Via Lattea is a daughter of stallion Gruccione Jet out of the mare Melodiass.

Via Lattea is a daughter of stallion Gruccione Jet out of the mare Melodiass. Both parents are described as dark bay. Gruccione Jet’s sire is two-time Breeders Crown winner Pine Chip and his dam is the Valley Victory mare Petite Victory, who made $210,647 in the U.S. at ages 2 and 3.

White Bliss, owned by Sjoberg and his brother Michael Knutsson under the Knutsson Trotting Inc. banner, is a son of the bay colored stallion Art Major and bay mare Coochie Mama. He was the first white Standardbred born of bay parents since 1998. He sold for $240,000 at the 2013 Standardbred Horse Sale.

Via Lattea will be trained in Sweden, initially by Andre Eklundh before moving to Stig H. Johansson next summer.

“She is the only white trotter I know of,” Sjoberg said. “As you know, there is very little 2-year-old racing in Sweden so we are targeting a 3-year-old debut. She will compete in Europe and after her racing career is over I will breed her to White Bliss.”

The 3-year-old White Bliss has won one of 14 races in his career. He broke his maiden on July 25 at Vernon Downs and had picked up two more top-three finishes in his next four starts, but has been sidelined by a minor ligament issue. Sjoberg hopes the pacer will return to action by April.

“It’s a shame because he was just starting to race really well on the New York circuit,” Sjoberg said. “The plan is to keep him racing as a 4-year-old and we also plan to offer his stud services to any interested parties. He will combine stud and racing duties if there is a demand. We will also freeze some semen and ship to Europe for breeding to some of our trotting mares there and possibly any interested third parties.”

As for Sjoberg’s Breeders Crown hopeful, Dupree is 20-1 on the morning line. He enters the race off a seventh-place finish in the sole elimination race for the 2-year-old male trotters, but had posted stakes wins in his previous two starts at The Red Mile. He will start from post eight with Svanstedt driving.

“He scoped bad after the elimination, so we are expecting a better effort in the final,” Sjoberg said.

Dupree is owned by Knutsson Trotting Inc. and Courant A B.

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D’One, who has won three of four starts in North America since arriving from Sweden during the summer, is the 7-5 morning line favorite in the $250,000 Breeders Crown Mare Trot. She is trained by Roger Walmann and will be driven by David Miller, who guided the 5-year-old daughter of world champions Donato Hanover and Giant Diablo to a two length victory over Harley Momma in 1:51.3 in the Allerage Mare Trot on Oct. 10 at The Red Mile.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

D’One glided to a 1:51.3 win in the Allerage Mare Trot.

“She was awesome again,” said Malin Boman-Friberg, who is the caretaker of D’One and also was the caretaker of Giant Diablo. “Before the race, she wanted to go. I think David (driving her for the first time) just has to get to know her. But he didn’t have to use her at all and she raced very good.

“We’re looking forward to the Breeders Crown. Everything comes down to the Breeders Crown. We just hope she likes the Woodbine track. But it’s exciting. It’s a big race.”

Classic Martine, who was beaten by a head by Bee A Magician in last year’s Breeders Crown Mare Trot, is the 7-2 second choice Saturday. She is coming off a win over male trotter Intimidate, who won a Crown in 2012, by a neck in 1:54 in a prep last Saturday at Woodbine.

“I thought it was a good race for her,” driver Tim Tetrick said. “She’s coming into (the Breeders Crown) better than she’s been in the past. We tried to change tactics a little bit and let her race from the back and I think she likes that better. Her last couple starts she was stuck on the front. I think she will look good in the final. She got a good draw and she was very good (in her prep).”

Charmed Life finished third in the prep race, making up nearly four lengths in the stretch.

“I was really happy with the way she closed up,” trainer Dave Menary said. “She’s better in the cooler weather. Maybe it didn’t look like it on paper, but I think last week (Oct. 9) was the most life she’s showed in the last couple months. Hopefully everything is pointing in the right direction. She did the same thing last year, got real good at this time of year. She fights bad allergies all summer. Everything has aligned itself pretty good right now and she’s in good shape and hopefully we’ll have some luck next week.”

Also in the field is Shake It Cerry, the 2014 Trotter of the Year and a Breeders Crown winner at ages 2 and 3. With a win Saturday, the Jimmy Takter-trainee will join Peace Corps, Grades Singing and Mack Lobell as the only trotters in history with three or more Breeders Crown titles.

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Ron Burke’s Southwind Frank is the 2-5 morning line favorite in the Breeders Crown for 2-year-old male trotters. The colt brings a nine-race win streak to the final and has won 10 of 11 races overall. His connections turned down a bye to advance straight to the final. Southwind Frank won the single elimination by five lengths in 1:55.2.

“He was well in hand and just jogged, for lack of a better word,” Burke assistant Shannon Murphy said. “We were either going to race him or train him hard, so you might as well go for the purse money. And he seems a little sharper when he’s working. He likes his work.”

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Jimmy Takter’s All The Time is the 7-5 morning line favorite in the Breeders Crown for 2-year-old female trotters. She won her elimination by four lengths over Caprice Hill in 1:56.1.

“She was amazing,” Takter said. “I was very impressed with her. That was a helluva performance; (1):56.1 and the way she did it, never pulling the plugs. She’s the one to beat. I don’t know what happened (when she made a break in the Peaceful Way). She got terrible on the left line. She had a bad day. But she’s got the right attitude.”

New Image Media photo

Haughty won her Breeders Crown elimination by three lengths in 1:59.

The division’s other elimination winner, Haughty, also comes from the Takter Stable. She is 7-for-7 this season and won her elim by three lengths in 1:59.

“She’s undefeated, so you’ve got to respect a horse like that,” Takter said. “I didn’t like her much early. She was a pain in the (butt). She couldn’t trot; she was terrible. I don’t know how many times she was close to being put on the truck and sent back to the farm. Very close. But she got out of it. She was just extremely immature.”

Caprice Hill, who has won seven of nine races and never finished worse than second, is 2-1 for trainer Tony Alagna. She will start the final from post 10 with Tim Tetrick in the sulky.

“She ended up having to come first up over a lighter half and the other filly got the jump on her, but she raced well,” Alagna said. “We just had the misfortune to draw the 10 hole (for the final), but I’ll just have to leave that up to Timmy. Things will have to go her way. It makes it a tougher task, that’s for sure, but she can overcome it if everything goes right. She’s been wonderful. She hasn’t put a bad race in.”

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Tymal Tempest is 30-1 on the morning line for the Breeders Crown for 2-year-old female trotters, but trainer Ervin Abdulov is just happy to be in the race. Tymal Tempest finished fourth in her elimination, which was won by All The Time. For the year, she has won one of 10 starts.

“This is my biggest race and I know for my owners, John and Shelagh McKinley, this will be their biggest race also,” Abdulov said. “It’s overwhelming, to be honest with you.”

The 42-year-old Abdulov, who is from London, Ont., has trained horses on a part-time and full-time basis over the years. He was introduced to harness racing through a friend whose father, Wayne Bloomfield, was a longtime horseman.

“I got the bug by going over there and hanging out with them,” Abdulov said. “I bought a couple horses with Wayne and here we are today. It started out by just wanting to be a part of it, but then being on the sidelines wasn’t good enough. I wanted to be in the driver’s seat, jogging them and training them.

“I was 19 when I bought my first horse. As many downs as I’ve had, I just can’t walk away from this. I do it fulltime now. I did it part time and would send the odd horse to Gregg McNair and try to get out there on the weekends and whenever else. There was a layoff at the plant where I worked at, and I decided this was my opportunity to do this fulltime again. I’d done it fulltime, I got away, and then I came back again to do it fulltime. I hope to stay this time.”

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Mission Brief and Wild Honey have split their last two meetings — with Mission Brief winning the Elegantimage Stakes and Wild Honey taking the Kentucky Filly Futurity — and they will see each other again in the Breeders Crown for 3-year-old female trotters.

The Ron Burke-trained Mission Brief had won four consecutive races, by a total of 28-1/2 lengths, since finishing second against the boys in the Hambletonian on Aug. 8 at the Meadowlands. She won the 2014 Breeders Crown for 2-year-old female trotters in a stakes-record 1:51.4 at the Meadowlands.

Mission Brief, who has won 17 of 24 career races, is the 2-5 morning line favorite in this year’s final, followed by Wild Honey at 7-5. Jimmy Takter’s Wild Honey has won 16 of 25 lifetime starts.

One does not have to go back far in the record book to find the last female trotter to win Breeders Crown trophies at ages 2 and 3. It was Takter’s Shake It Cerry in 2013-14.