from the Meadowlands Publicity Department

East Rutherford, NJ — Hot off an award-winning season and a sizzling 2007 debut, Burning Point returns to the Meadowlands in the $50,000 first round of the Overbid Series on Friday night, March 9.

Burning Point was named the 2006 Older Pacing Mare of the Year at the U.S. Harness Writers Association’s Night of Stars banquet two weeks ago. It was her second divisional championship – she first won in 2003 as a sophomore. Burning Point was on the board in 25 of 28 starts in 2006 and led her division with $782,415. Her credentials included her second straight win in the Lady Liberty at the Meadowlands and a victory in the Roses Are Red at Mohawk. She notched her second Breeders Crown with a career best, and stakes record-equaling, 1:49.2 on July 29 at the Meadowlands.

Trained by Steve Elliott, the 7-year-old daughter of Camluck has started in the last three Overbid Finals, finishing second, seventh and third. She will gun for a fourth try in 2007, beginning with Friday’s opening leg of the series. She is rated as the 2-1 morning line favorite from post seven, with George Brennan listed to drive, in the evening’s second race. Among her competitors is the gritty Miss Galvinator A, whom she defeated in her 2007 debut, last week’s Mares Open at Yonkers.

“Burning Point was good all year long in 2006, but she’s never really been as effective in the cold weather,” Elliott said. “Her game starts coming around in June. She was as strong at the beginning as she was at the end of last year. She raced 28 times and at the level she races there are no real easy miles.

“She was at her best in the Breeders Crown when she was able to get away from them and swell up,” he continued. “She’s more of a grinder, not a sprinter. If you grab into her, jam them up and let them at her wheel, she can’t out-sprint them. But if you get her rolling she can go as fast as anybody. You might think the two-hole trip is her game, but I think she’s actually better on the front end, as long as you can give a her a quarter rest somewhere in the mile.”

Burning Point’s lifetime earnings of $2,727,509 rank her fourth among pacing mares behind all-time leader Eternal Camnation, Bunny Lake and Loyal Opposition. She’s owned by the Cuzzins Stable of Delray Beach, Florida (actual cousins Shelby Novick, a clothing manufacturer, and Kenneth Solomon, a jewelry store owner). She was an $85,000 private purchase in 2003. Elliott took over the training of Burning Point from Kevin and Linda Wallis following her 2003 season.

“As far as her future goes, she’s in as much as we can put her in again this year,” Elliott noted. “We’re going to have a few races for her on a half-mile track, too.

Elliott has had success with another pacing mare recently: Tender Loving Care champion Southwind Tempo.

“Southwind Tempo is going to be a real good one,” he said. “I think she’s going to be another Burning Point. She doesn’t know the end of the mile. She’s very talented, doesn’t wear a boot, has tactical speed and she’s still green. (Owner-trainer-driver) Toby Lynch has done a hell of a job with her. It was a real compliment to ask me to train her. We met while I was shoeing horses at Lexington, then he just called me later out of the blue. She’ll be off about six weeks and she’s (staked to) everything.”

In addition to Burning Point, Elliott earned another 2006 Dan Patch Award with Two-Year-Old Colt Trotter of the Year Donato Hanover. The colt cruised to a track record of 1:55 in the Peter Haughton Memorial and gave Elliott his fifth Breeders Crown trophy. Donato Hanover sealed his divisional title with eight wins in nine starts.

“Donato Hanover is going slow trips right now,” he said. “I’m going to put a lot of miles into him. I think we’ll stay at the Meadowlands right through the Hambletonian (Saturday, August 4), then we’ll go where we have to. He filled out and got a little bit bigger. He’s thicker and more solid. There’s just more to him. I had to start going some slow trips with him before he killed somebody, he’s so full of himself. We got lucky and didn’t stretch him out last year. We got to pick our spots and that worked to our advantage.”

Elliott won the same division back in 1988 with Valley Victory, a year in which he was named the sport’s top trainer for the unprecedented feat of campaigning three divisional champions (Valley Victory, Sweet Reflection and Totally Ruthless) in a season. 18 years later, the 53-year-old Detriot native completed a dream season with the titanic trio of Burning Point, Donato Hanover and Artistic Fella, who combined to win $2.4 million.

Although he lost year-end honors to Total Truth, Artistic Fella had an exceptional season in 2006. A $13,500 yearling buy, he reeled off 10 wins in a row at the Meadowlands, and his stakes record in the $1 million Meadowlands Pace was one of three straight miles in 1:48.4.

“Artistic Fella is super,” Elliott said. “I’ve been in 2:05 with him and he’ll surface probably sometime in April. I think his first stakes race will be the Classic Series at Dover Downs. He’s really good, and it’s hard to believe, but he got bigger and stronger. We look to have a lot more fun with him this year.”

“Even though I had a great season in 2006, I think 1988 was actually better,” he added. “The stable made more money then and I had three divisional champions. More importantly for me, 2006 was fun again, plus I had the company horse, Donato Hanover. When you go without top horses for a while you really appreciate what this game is about. They put the fun back in it.

“Everybody thinks it’s the money and it’s definitely not,” he continued. “It’s all about racing against the best and being very competitive with them. It’s like being any other athlete; you thrive for the competition. It’s a lot easier when you have nice horses as well, and you have to love the horses because this isn’t a job, it’s a lifestyle. I was also going through a divorce a few years ago and it messed me up for awhile. I got over it and it seemed the harder I worked, the luckier I got.”