by David Mattia, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

New Brunswick, NJ — In 1977, The Meadowlands added the Hiram Woodruff to its regular stakes schedule for trotters. The conditions for the race have changed a few times over the years, and it even disappeared entirely from the stakes schedule (1986-1989). Today the race is written exclusively for 3- and 4-year-old trotters, and it attracts some of the finest trotting talent in North America.

Distinguished horses like Pride Of Carlisle, Cold Comfort, Diamond Exchange, Delmegan and Muscles Marinara have won the Hiram Woodruff, and last year’s winner, Lawrence, set the stakes record when he won in 1:53.1 for driver John Campbell.

Hiram Woodruff (1817-1867) was probably the best harness horseman of his time and he dedicated the greater part of his career to developing the trotting racehorse as we know it today. His dedication to the developing breed and the sport of driving guided him to write, “The Trotting Horse Of America: How To Train And Drive Him” — one of the first books dedicated to what would soon after come to be known as the Standardbred racehorse.

Throughout his career Hiram Woodruff was considered to be the consummate horseman and, according to The Library of Congress archives, he was widely known for his honesty, intelligence and indisputable integrity at a time when many horsemen were not held in the highest regard.

Lisa Photo

Euro Hanover has been a winner in each of the legs of the Hiram Woodruff Series.

The gentlemanly portrayal of the race’s namesake pretty much befits Bruce Saunders, the trainer who has a chance to win this year’s edition with Euro Hanover 4,1:54 ($113,906).

Bruce Saunders has been a top trainer at The Meadowlands for many years, and his reputation as a both a fine gentleman and a superlative trainer is irrefutable, so when owner/trainer/driver Todd Schadel decided that the long haul Euro Hanover was enduring in shipping every week was taking away from the horse’s performance, he and co-owner Charles Vincent left the horse with Saunders.

“Chuck (Charles Vincent) buys yearlings every year with Todd. They buy a few and then they sell them,” said Saunders. “In this case Todd was concerned that the logistics of racing the horse at the Meadowlands was becoming a problem so he left him with me.”

In his first start for Saunders, the son of SJ’s Caviar ran off by 15-3/4 lengths in a non-winners of two and trotted his mile in 1:55.1.

“In that first start I put him in one of those new high-tech Chicago bikes and it was too small,” recalls Saunders. “He was hitting it with his hock and he ran away.”

It’s nice to have a trotter who can run away without “running” — it’s a harbinger of true talent and better things to come, and in the hands of Bruce Saunders it’s not a question of if a horse will show his ability, it’s a question of when. Of course, like any trainer, Saunders has had his share of disappointments, but at the present time Euro Hanover is not one of them.

Last Sunday, in the second leg of The Hiram Woodruff, Euro Hanover crossed the wire comfortably with a 2 -1/2 length victory over Jetn Lindy and Camelot Kosmos in 1:54.3. Bet down to the bare bones, Euro Hanover moved early and took the lead passing the quarter pole. The rest of the race found Euro Hanover clicking the teletimer at his leisure, and looking every bit the part of a trotting horse with the kind of gait, agility and speed about which Hiram Woodruff could only have dreamed — and probably did.

“He’s a work in progress,” said Saunders. “He’s big, strong, long-gaited and like fine wine he’s getting better with age.

“Prior to the Father Foley races he only had one button — GO — but since John (Campbell) started driving him he’s learned to sit in and he’s learned how to finish. I opened him up because he was overly aggressive and that’s helped him considerably.”

Lisa Photo

Cat Manzi drove Euro Hanover to a 1:54.3 score in the $70,000 Super Bowl final.

In the beginning of the year, his aggressive tendencies notwithstanding, Euro Hanover was highly effective in the Super Bowl Series. On January 10 he was second to Anotherbogey in the first go round and trotted his mile in 1:57.1. He returned for the second leg and won that easily in 1:55.3. In the $70,000 final, Euro Hanover managed to pull away by seven lengths at the top of the stretch. He held on to win by 1-1/4 lengths over a very rapidly closing Anotherbogey.

In all three Super Bowl races Cat Manzi drove Euro Hanover, and obviously managed to ease the horse’s aggressive nature — a talent Manzi seems to have patented.

“Hopefully we’ll have some good luck in the (Hiram Woodruff) final,” said Saunders. “He has some tough horses to beat — Man About Town and some others.”

As modest as he is talented, Bruce Saunders is quick to compliment Todd Schadel.

“Euro Hanover showed up at my barn already made. He just needed to mature and learn how to race. Todd sold his share of the horse after a while, and I’m happy to have him for my owners and with a little luck we’ll do well in the final.”

Euro Hanover was bred by Hanover Shoe Farms and is owned by Charles Vincent, Nancy Greene and John Dickinson. To date he has won 13 of 44 career starts and has earnings of $113,906.

Every horse in the Hiram Woodruff is extraordinarily faster than anything Hiram Woodruff would have driven, but they all possess the kind of gait and conformation Woodruff and his peers were seeking when they raced their trotters down country lanes and along the Harlem River.

This year’s Hiram Woodruff final looks like it will be a hard fought duel between Bruce Saunders’ Euro Hanover and Mark Silva’s Man About Town, but in spite of what seems to be a two-horse grudge match, it still promises to be a race worthy of its heritage, and a race Hiram Woodruff would have watched in bewilderment.