Gordon Waterstone

Lexington, KY — Although she currently stands third on the seasonal earnings list for trotting mares with $398,949, with a victory in Saturday night’s (Nov. 20) $175,000 TVG Mares Trot at The Meadowlands, Atlanta would send her total to $486,449 and secure honors as the richest of her division for the fourth consecutive year.

Her current earnings trifecta began in her Hambletonian-winning season as a 3-year-old in 2018, and has continued the past two years as a 4- and 5-year-old.

Atlanta comes into the TVG with 31 wins in 62 career starts, and if there was any question if Atlanta would race at age seven in 2022, trainer Ron Burke quickly put that to rest.

“This is her last start this year, but she’s racing next year,” said Burke. “I think she has one more great year in her — at least. As far as I know, it’s full steam ahead for next year.”

Atlanta posted a world record-equaling 1:49 win in the Allerage on Oct. 10 at The Red Mile. USTA/Mark Hall photo.

Atlanta comes into Saturday’s Mares Trot — one of four TVG championships on the card in the stakes finale for older horses in 2021 — with six wins in 11 starts, including a world record-equaling 1:49 win in the Allerage on Oct. 10 at The Red Mile. The mile was the fastest ever by a female trotter, tying the mark established by Manchego in 2019, also at The Red Mile.

“I was proud of her doing that as it puts her in elite horse company,” Burke said about the Allerage effort.

This will be Atlanta’s third consecutive start in the TVG finals, with the daughter of Chapter Seven looking for her first victory. In 2019 she finished second by a head to Emoticon Hanover in the Mares Trot, and last year she finished second to peer mare Manchego in the Open Trot.

A bigger hole on Atlanta’s resume is the Breeders Crown as she has yet to take home the trophy in four attempts. In 2018, her Hambletonian score propelled her to divisional and Trotter of the Year honors, but she fell a head short to Lily Stride in the Breeders Crown final. The next two years, Burke was game enough to race Atlanta against the males in the Breeders Crown Open Trot, where she had back-to-back third-place finishes to Bold Eagle and Gimpanzee, respectively.

Back this year in the Breeders Crown Mares Trot last time out on Oct. 30, Atlanta had to again settle for second behind Felicityshagwell S. In that race, Felicityshagwell S led wire-to-wire for trainer-driver Ake Svanstedt, who was able to cruise to a moderate half of :57.2 before putting on the burners in a back half of :55 to keep a first-over, Yannick Gingras-driven Atlanta at bay by 1-1/2 lengths under the wire.

“The Breeders Crown has kind of become her snake-bit thing,” said Burke. “I was really happy with her. It wasn’t like she wasn’t good, it was a weird race. Ake stole the race; he did a great job, I give him all the credit in the world.”

One big thing for Atlanta in the Breeders Crown — her second-place finish sent her career earnings past the $3 million mark for owners Crawford Farms Racing, Brad Grant and Howard Taylor, and a TVG win would make her the third richest North American-based trotting mare in history, behind only Moni Maker and Bee A Magician. Currently fifth, a win would put her earnings at $3,146,102, enough to move past Manchego ($3,144,777) and Hannelore Hanover ($3,069,857).

Atlanta will start from post one in Saturday’s TVG final, while Felicityshagwell S will line up in post seven. Burke doesn’t expect the same race scenario to occur this time around with Svanstedt controlling the tempo with his charge.

“I think this race will be totally different,” said Burke. “I don’t think Yannick will let himself get put into that same spot, and the other guys won’t let Ake just cruise around there this week.”

Bella Bellini posted a 1:53 score in the $650,000 Breeders Crown final for 3-year-old trotting fillies. Lisa photo.

Two of those “other guys” are David Miller, who will direct recent Breeders Crown third-place finisher When Dovescry from post eight, and Dexter Dunn, who will start from the outside post nine with Bella Bellini, this year’s Hambletonian Oaks champ who earned an invitation to compete against the older horses by virtue of her win in the $650,000 Breeders Crown 3-year-old Filly Trot on Oct. 30 at The Big M.

While 13 sophomore horses have raced against their older peers in TVG history, only two have been successful: colt trotters What The Hill (2017) and Tactical Landing (2018), where fellow sophomore Six Pack finished second. Only twice have filly trotters given it a go, with Beautiful Sin finishing fourth (to Emoticon Hanover) in 2019 and Sorella finishing sixth (to Plunge Blue Chip) in 2020.

‘We’re asking a lot, but what the hell, we’ll give it a shot,” trainer Nifty Norman said with a laugh when told about TVG history with 3-year-old filly trotters.

Norman admitted he was disappointed with the outside post, but he expects driver Dexter Dunn to work out the best trip possible.

“It’s a little disappointing, but we’ll give it a go,” Norman said about the nine hole. “The filly that’s drawn beside her (When Dovescry), maybe we can follow her and see how it works out.”

Overall, Bella Bellini has 11 wins and six seconds in 18 starts this year, with purse earnings of $1,091,340 for owner David McDuffee. Norman said McDuffee plans to retire the daughter of Bar Hopping following the TVG final, but a strong effort could lead to a delay in that scenario.

“This is a chance for (McDuffee) to look at her against that sort of company,” said Norman. “The plan is to retire her and breed her to Walner, but if she happens to do really good and show she is competitive with those other mares, he might reconsider. That was the idea of the whole thing.”

Bella Bellini parlayed her Breeders Crown win into a Nov. 11 Matron score at Dover Downs, romping to a six-length score in 1:52.2. The time over the five-eighths-mile track missed by just one-fifth of a second of her career mark of 1:52.1 set first in a July 3 overnight over the one-mile Meadowlands surface and then equaled equaled on Aug. 7 in the Hambletonian Oaks.

“It’s funny, because at the start of the year we had trouble with her as she was high maintenance but now, at the end of the year, she’s the best she’s been all year long,” said Norman. “She’s as sound as a dollar and in really, really good shape. It’s amazing. She’s had quite a few starts and none the worse for wear at all.”

For complete entries for the Saturday program at The Meadowlands, click here.