by Ellen Harvey, Harness Racing Communications

“It sucks,” said Ray Schnittker, of the fact that Deweycheatumnhowe, his $3 million contender for Horse of the Year, is currently sideline d with a throat abscess.

“He’s a little better today, and it’s down a little. It’s just a weird thing to have happened. I took him to Cornell yesterday because being entered in the Crown I wanted to know right away what it was…and Dr. Ducharme said you very rarely see this type of thing. His white count is ok, there’s nothing that shows on the x-ray and it’s just like a swelling in one of his lymph nodes.

“In two years he has never had a thing wrong with him, so I guess it had to happen sometime. I’ll wait till Monday and see what I’m going to do. We’re lucky there was no elimination.”

Deweycheatumnhowe is the favorite in the 11-horse field entered for the $500,000 Breeders Crown Colt Trot on Sat. Nov. 29. Post positions will be drawn this Saturday on Meadowlands TV, after the seventh race.