by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — Trainer Joe Holloway is uncertain where many of the top 3-year-old female pacers might race to start this season, but he is pretty sure that no matter where he sends Bettor Be Steppin and Divine Caroline it’s not going to be easy.

Bettor Be Steppin and Divine Caroline — who finished third and fourth, respectively, in November’s Breeders Crown for 2-year-old female pacers — are among the horses set to qualify Friday at the Meadowlands. Holloway is preparing the fillies for a stakes-filled campaign and is likely to find many of the division’s top horses from last year wherever he turns.

In addition to being eligible to this season’s top stakes for 3-year-old filly pacers, Holloway’s two horses are eligible to the New York Sire Stakes. But so are defending Horse of the Year and Breeders Crown winner JK She’salady, Breeders Crown runner-up Sassa Hanover, returning NYSS champion Mosquito Blue Chip, and stakes-winner Bettor N Better.

Bettor Be Steppin earned $298,643 as a 2-year-old.

Those four fillies, along with Bettor Be Steppin, were among the top six money-winning 2-year-old filly pacers last season. She’s A Great Lady Stakes runner-up Bedroomconfessions, another New Yorker, was ninth.

“You put whatever number you want on it, but some of your better fillies are all New York bred,” Holloway said. “It will be interesting to see where people go. We don’t know yet.

“I’d like to get Steppin a start before (stakes competition) because we’re going to go fast. But no more than two starts because it’s such a long year and you have to manage the number of starts.”

Bettor Be Steppin, a daughter of stallion Bettor’s Delight out of the mare Two Steppin’ Sally, won four of 12 races last year and earned $298,643. She won divisions of the Bluegrass, Kentuckiana Stallion Management, and Reynolds Memorial stakes. She is a half-sister to Major Dancer, who finished second in last season’s Breeders Crown for 3-year-old female pacers.

“She’s a nice filly,” said Holloway, who trains Bettor Be Steppin for owners Val D’Or Farms, Rojan Stables, and Ted Gewertz. “How she fits in the division, it’s down the road, so we’ll see.”

USTA/Ken Weingartner photos

Divine Caroline cashed $141,426 in checks as a 2-year-old.

Divine Caroline won one of 11 races last year and $141,426 for owners Val D’Or Farms, Rojan Stables, Ted Gewertz and Michael Ouriel. Her victory came in a division of the Reynolds and she finished second in divisions of the Bluegrass and International Stallion stakes.

“She has high speed, but just a few maturity issues,” Holloway said about Divine Caroline.

Bettor Be Steppin and Divine Caroline are both eligible to the Reynolds Memorial on May 8 at the Meadowlands. The first New York Sire Stakes event is May 16 at Vernon Downs.

“I’ve got time,” Holloway said. “The first stakes are in early May and then we have the sire stakes. But Caroline fits non-winners of two, so I have a (non-stakes or open) spot to race her. Steppin, it’s a little bit tougher. I’m hoping that toward the end of April that I can get her a start.”

Holloway is qualifying his two fillies Friday so he has more flexibility in April if the weather is unfavorable.

“If the weather is nice on Friday, I might as well qualify on Friday,” Holloway said. “I just don’t like locking myself into dates. It’s time to go and then all of a sudden the weather doesn’t comply and I’m qualifying over a track I really didn’t want to. This way there’s nothing in a hurry.”