by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Freehold, NJ — Last season’s top 2-year-old trotters, Deweycheatumnhowe and Snow White, both won qualifiers Thursday morning (June 19) at the Meadowlands Racetrack, although the vibes around each was decidedly different.

Deweycheatumnhowe, last season’s Dan Patch Award winner among the 2-year-old male trotters, sat second behind The Pres through fractions of :27.2, :56.2 and 1:25.4 before taking the lead with a :27.1 final quarter to win by 3-1/4 lengths in 1:53.1.

Snow White, last season’s Dan Patch Award winner among the 2-year-old female trotters, moved to the lead at the half off fractions of :30.1 and :58.4 and won by 10-3/4 lengths in 1:55.3. Her final quarter was :28.3, which caused some concern among her connections.

“The line looks good, but we’re not ecstatic; I’d have liked to seen her trot home a little more,” trainer Kevin Lare said. “She wasn’t all done, but she wasn’t as strong as last week. What am I trying to tell you? I don’t know. I really don’t.”

Last week, Snow White, who had throat surgery during the winter to improve a breathing issue, won in 1:56.3 with a final :27.2 quarter-mile.

“Are we dealing with some other issue today? That’s our question,” Lare said. “We’re going to go home and pull blood because we’d like to have seen :27.2, not :28.3. We didn’t come in and put our heads down, but we thought she was up to more than that. The breathing could be an issue; we don’t know. We might find out she’s running a slight infection, or something like that, and we’re nervous over nothing.”

Snow White was expected to make her debut in next week’s Coaching Club Oaks (Historic Stakes) at the Meadowlands, but Lare is taking a wait-and-see approach after today’s events.

“Let me see what her blood results say,” Lare said. “She might have tied up. It’s been warm, warm, warm and today was a little cooler with a breeze out there. We’re not disturbed, we’re just in question.”

Last season, Snow White won 11 of 13 races, including the Breeders Crown, Goldsmith Maid and Oakville Stakes, and earned $1.2 million in purses — the most in history for any filly, trotter or pacer, in a single season. Her 1:52.4 mile at Lexington’s Red Mile on Oct. 2, winning by more than 10 lengths in the process, was the fastest ever for a 2-year-old trotter.

Snow White is owned by Lare’s Harness The Power Stable, North State Street Stable, and Jerry Silva.

Meanwhile, the undefeated Deweycheatumnhowe got a final tune-up for his debut in the June 27 Dickerson Cup (Historic) at the Meadowlands. He was driven by trainer-driver Ray Schnittker. The colt won his first qualifier on June 5 in 1:54 and was four-fifths of a second better today.

“I didn’t want to go that fast, but he got a perfect trip,” Schnittker said. “I wanted to keep him off the front more than anything, and he did it very, very easy. It worked out great for him. On the last turn I pulled him out and he was loaded.

“He’s just a really good horse. He’s as good as a horse can be.”

Named for the fictional law firm referenced in numerous comedy routines, Deweycheatumnhowe is owned by Schnittker, Ted Gewertz, Charles Iannazzo, and the Deweycheatumnhowe Stable. He was 10-for-10 last season, when his victories included the Breeders Crown and Valley Victory.