by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications
Freehold, NJ — Fear The Dragon, who was idle this past weekend, remained on top in this week’s Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll. The 3-year-old male pacer has won nine of 10 races this season and is the richest Standardbred in North America in 2017 with $924,453 in earnings.
Ariana G, who last weekend won the Hambletonian Oaks for 3-year-old female trotters, picked up nine first-place votes and moved from third to second in the rankings. Cane Pace champion Huntsville, who received the final three first place votes, fell from second to third.
Hannelore Hanover and Marion Marauder rounded out the top five.
Resolve, the winner of last week’s John Cashman Memorial, joined the rankings, at No. 6. Also cracking the Top 10 were Shady Daisy winner Blazin Britches at No. 8 and Jim Doherty Memorial champion Manchego at No. 10.
The Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll does not determine Horse of the Year. The U.S. Harness Writers Association votes in December on all Dan Patch Award division winners plus Trotter of the Year, Pacer of the Year and Horse of the Year.
Rankings based on the votes of harness racing media representatives on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
HambletonianSociety/Breeders Crown Standardbred Poll: Week 11 – 8/8/2017
|
Rank
|
Name (First Place Votes)
|
Age/Gait/Sex
|
Record
|
Earnings
|
Points
|
Pvs
|
|
1
|
Fear The Dragon (23)
|
3pc
|
10-9-1-0
|
$924,453
|
326
|
1
|
|
2
|
Ariana G (9)
|
3tf
|
7-6-0-1
|
$464,091
|
305
|
3
|
|
3
|
Huntsville (3)
|
3pc
|
10-7-3-0
|
$882,303
|
287
|
2
|
|
4
|
Hannelore Hanover
|
5tm
|
7-4-2-0
|
$235,299
|
157
|
4
|
|
5
|
Marion Marauder
|
4th
|
5-3-1-1
|
$443,177
|
140
|
5
|
|
6
|
Resolve
|
6th
|
6-3-1-0
|
$327,070
|
129
|
—
|
|
7
|
|
3tc
|
2-2-0-0
|
$83,615
|
118
|
6
|
|
8
|
Blazin Britches
|
3pf
|
9-8-1-0
|
$123,392
|
82
|
—
|
|
9
|
|
3pc
|
9-5-1-2
|
$536,216
|
81
|
7
|
|
10
|
Manchego
|
2tf
|
5-5-0-0
|
$209,898
|
55
|
—
|
Also:Lady Shadow (42); Agent Q, Perfect Spirit (31); Crazy Wow (25); What The Hill(23); Devious Man (21); Keystone Velocity, Pasithea Face S (14); You Know YouDo (13); R J P (8); Nike Franco N (5); Bit Of A Legend N, Long Tom (4);International Moni (3); Check Six, JL Cruze, Magic Presto, Percy Blue Chip,Play The Bell, Summer Travel, Two AM (1).