Bar Hopping to tackle older foes in TVG championship
November 11, 2016,by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications
Ken Weingartner
Freehold, NJ — For the second consecutive year, trainer Jimmy Takter will send a 3-year-old colt to challenge older rivals in the TVG Free For All Series championship for trotters at the Meadowlands Racetrack. Last season, it was The Bank. This time, it is Bar Hopping, who on Saturday will try to become the first 3-year-old male trotter in recent history to win against older foes in a series final worth at least $100,000.
The Bank and Bar Hopping received invitations to the TVG championship as Breeders Crown winners. Bar Hopping won his Crown on Oct. 29 with a stakes-record-equaling 1:51.4 mile at the Big M and followed that victory with a track-record 1:53.4 triumph in the Carl Erskine Trot on Nov. 4 at Indiana’s Hoosier Park.
For the year, Bar Hopping has won nine of 18 races and earned $1.17 million in purses. He has won six of his last seven starts, including the Breeders Crown, Erskine, and Canadian Trotting Classic. His only setback during that span was a third-place finish in the Kentucky Futurity, where he was beaten by a half-length by Trotting Triple Crown winner Marion Marauder.
Linscott Photography
Bar Hopping enters the TVG final off a track record performance in the $220,000 Carl Erskine Trot at Hoosier Park.
Bar Hopping and driver Tim Tetrick will start the $400,000 TVG championship from post three and are the 4-1 second choice on the morning line. Resolve, the defending TVG champion from the stable of Ake Svanstedt, is the 7-5 favorite.
“He’s definitely on top of his game,” Tetrick said of Bar Hopping. “Really all year he’s raced pretty good. He had a couple hiccups here or there, but the horse is sharp right now. He won really good at Hoosier and he was great in the Breeders Crown.”
According to the U.S. Trotting Association’s Information and Research Department, Bar Hopping is seeking to become the first 3-year-old male trotter in recent history to win against older foes in a series final worth at least $100,000 since Before He Cheats captured the $120,000 Chester Late Closing Series in 2007.
The only other instance since 1992 of a 3-year-old trotter winning a race worth at least $100,000 against older horses came on the female side, when filly CR Kay Suzie defeated seven mares in the Breeders Crown at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Ohio.
Last year, The Bank finished seventh in the TVG.
Joining Bar Hopping and Resolve in this year’s TVG final are Obrigado, Centurion ATM, Crazy Wow, Wind Of The North, JL Cruze, and Lookslikeachpndale.
Resolve has won five of 12 races this year and earned $1.31 million. He won the Yonkers International Trot and Maple Leaf and finished second in the Breeders Crown Open Trot and Sweden’s Elitlopp.
Obrigado is a multiple-stakes-winner and JL Cruze, last year’s divisional Dan Patch Award winner, was third in the Breeders Crown.
“All we can do is hope for a good trip and hope some of those big boys have a day off,” Tetrick said of Bar Hopping’s challenge. “Maybe we can end the season on a great note.”
TVG Series finals for older female trotters plus older male and female pacers are also on Saturday’s Meadowlands card.
Breeders Crown Mare Trot winner Hannelore Hanover is the 7-5 morning line favorite in the $200,000 TVG for trotting mares. Bee A Magician is the 2-1 second choice.
Always B Miki, the Breeders Crown Open Pace champ and the fastest horse in harness racing history with a 1:46 mile record, is the 1-5 choice in the $400,000 TVG for older male pacers while Breeders Crown Mare Pace winner Lady Shadow gets the 4-5 nod in the $200,000 TVG for female pacers.
Complete entries for the Saturday Meadowlands card may be found at this link.
- ‘Love at first sight’ (Sunday, November 06, 2016)
Helene Engblom and Shake It Cerry have traveled together to the races 60 times in the past four years, but their next trip is likely to be the most difficult. Shake It Cerry, the 2014 Trotter of the Year, is expected to make the final start of her illustrious career Saturday (Nov. 12) at the TVG Series Championships at the Meadowlands Racetrack.
- Wiggle It Jiggleit to miss $400,000 TVG final due to foot bruise and sickness (Tuesday, November 08, 2016)
Co-owner George Teague Jr. announced to the Meadowlands that Wiggle It Jiggleit, the top money-winning horse in harness racing in 2016, will not be entered in Saturday’s $400,000 TVG Free For All final due to a minor foot bruise and bout with sickness. The race was expected to mark the ninth and final showdown with world record holder and Breeders Crown champion Always B Miki.
- Matron 3-year-old races open this weekend’s Grand Circuit stakes (Wednesday, November 09, 2016)
The Grand Circuit returns to Dover Downs this Thursday (Nov. 10) for four Matron Stakes for 3-year-olds of both sexes and gaits. The 3-year-old colt trot carries a purse of $178,650, the 3-year-old colt pacers will race for $160,200, the purse for the 3-year-old filly trot is $149,000 and the 3-year-old filly pacers will race for $148,400.
- Hurley has ‘mixed emotions’ as Always B Miki’s racing career comes to an end (Friday, November 11, 2016)
Joe Hurley’s run with Always B Miki is coming to an end. On Saturday night, Hurley, who at trackside ran down the final portion of the stretch at Lexington as Always B Miki made history with his 1:46 all-time record mile a month ago, will watch the 5-year-old pacing stallion he bred and co-owns compete for the final time in his career.
- TVG finals on center stage at Big M (Friday, November 11, 2016)
While Always B Miki’s curtain call in the $400,000 TVG Free For All Pace is rightfully bound to garner great attention on Saturday (Nov. 12) evening’s 12-race card at The Meadowlands, the showdown between Hannelore Hanover and Bee A Magician in the $200,000 TVG Mares Trot just two races earlier has all the makings of a race for the ages.
- Always B Miki sprints off in career curtain call (Saturday, November 12, 2016)
Always B Miki ($2.10) will always be remembered as a champion.The fastest pacer in the history of harness racing capped his career in triumphant fashion, using a sustained first-over bid to overpower All Bets Off and sprint off to a 1:48.2 victory in the $400,000 TVG Free-For-All Pace on Saturday evening (Nov. 12) evening at The Meadowlands.
- Hannelore Hanover, Lady Shadow prevail in TVG female contests (Saturday, November 12, 2016)
In the $200,000 TVG for trotting mares (race four), Hannelore Hanover ($3.60) rallied from off the pace to once again defeat Bee a Magician, vaulting home and reeling in the quadruple millionaire for a 1:51.4 score. Lady Shadow ($2.40) used nearly identical tactics as Always B Miki en route to her 1:50 win in the $200,000 TVG for pacing mares.
- Obrigado outlasts barrage of pressure, upsets TVG trot (Saturday, November 12, 2016)
Obrigado ($19.80), one of two of the eight in the $400,000 TVG Free-For-All Trot (race 10) to have not contested a Breeders Crown event two weeks ago, sought control of the terms early and dug in to parry a barrage of pressure in a compelling race which saw the entire octet covered by two lengths at the winning post.