Hightstown, NJ – Big Ranger put together an undefeated 2-year-old campaign last season on his way to being named Ohio’s 2025 Horse of the Year. Now, the colt is ready to embark on his sophomore season, with a schedule that could see him land on the sport’s biggest stage for 3-year-old trotters this summer at the Meadowlands.
Big Ranger, who competed only in state-bred races in Ohio last year and was a perfect 7-for-7, is eligible to several Grand Circuit events this season – most notably the Grade 1 Hambletonian Stakes in August at the Big M.
“If he stays healthy, and everything goes as planned, we plan to give it a shot,” said Big Ranger’s trainer/driver Ronnie Gillespie. “I’m aiming to have not more than five starts for him before the Hambo. I want to try to keep him as fresh and sharp as I can.”
Start No. 1 will be Thursday (April 23) in the $75,000 final of the James K. Hackett Memorial for Ohio-sired 3-year-old male trotters at Miami Valley Raceway. Big Ranger received a bye to the final and will leave from post one in a field seven. He is the 2-1 morning-line favorite. Rose Run Banker, who won last week’s Hackett elimination in 1:55 for driver Chris Page and trainer Ron Burke, is the 5-2 second choice from post four.
Big Ranger prepped for his seasonal debut with a 4-1/4-length 1:54 win in a qualifier on April 3 at Miami Valley.
“He’s a horse that has it all,” Gillespie said. “The attitude, the speed. He’s a big horse, but he’s so versatile. You can leave with him, shut him down, and he’s not overly aggressive; he doesn’t pull on you. You can do whatever you want with him. He has all the tools, which is what makes him special to me. He can do it any type of way.
“You don’t make those types of horses. He’s just a natural.”
Big Ranger, a son of In Range-Big Blue Bird, began his 2-year-old season with a track-record 1:54 victory in the $150,000 Next Generation for freshman male trotters at Eldorado Scioto Downs and kept rolling from there. He captured the Ohio Triple Crown, winning the Ohio State Fair Stakes, Ohio Breeders Championship, and Ohio Sires Stakes Scarlet Championship on his way to $370,610 in earnings for owner Madison Global.
His earnings were 11th best among all 2-year-old trotters last season. Out of the top 50 money-winning freshman trotters last year, he was the only one undefeated.
“He’s just a really nice horse,” Gillespie said. “He had some little issues last year, like I had to scratch him one time because he had an abscess that popped, but he still maintained that standard the way he did. Coming back this year, I could see a big difference in him. He’s very mature; he knows what racing is about now.”
Big Ranger gave Gillespie an indication he was on the path to figuring it all out when he capped his 2025 season with an 8-1/2-length win in the Ohio Sire Stakes championship in a track-record 1:53.4 on Sept. 27 at Hollywood Dayton Raceway.
“That race stood out to me,” Gillespie said. “He went to the front and took charge. He came to race and was ready. He was at his best at the end of the year.”
As for this year, Gillespie is anxious to see how Big Ranger performs against Grand Circuit-level competition.
“I think he can go with them,” said Gillespie, who plans to send Big Ranger to the Oak Grove Trotting Derby next month for his first Grand Circuit test. “Post position, the trip, all of those things are going to play into it. But I’m very confident he can go with them. I think he could trot (1):50, especially at the Meadowlands.
“He’s the best horse I ever put hands on.”
The morning-line favorites in the remaining $75,000 Hackett Memorial finals, which are the year’s first Graded Stakes, are Rose Run Brooke (2-1, Ronnie Wrenn Jr. driving for trainer Vernon Beachy), 3-year-old filly trotters; Crocodile Station (2-1, David Miller-Michael Hitchcock), 3-year-old male pacers; and Kb Wrecking Ball (5-2, Luke Hanners-Deborah Swartz), 3-year-old filly pacers.
Racing begins at 4 p.m. (EDT) at Miami Valley. For Thursday’s complete entries, click here.