by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — Jim Meittinis thinks Buzz Bomb has the potential to be a successful trotter. The next several months will go some way in determining whether he is correct.

Buzz Bomb, who has made only one start in his career, is among the eight 3-year-old trotters in Saturday’s (May 7) $160,850 Dexter Cup at Freehold Raceway. The Dexter Cup is the first major stakes race on the road to the $1.5 million Hambletonian on August 6 — a day that Meittinis has circled on Buzz Bomb’s schedule.

Of course, Meittinis will need to see how Buzz Bomb fares in the Dexter and the upcoming New Jersey Sire Stakes season before making any decisions.

Ken Weingartner photo

Jim Meittinis will start Buzz Bomb in this Saturday’s Dexter Cup.

“The colt is a nice colt,” said Meittinis, who trains and owns Buzz Bomb with his wife, Linda, and Debbie Simonelli’s British Betty Racing Stable. “But they all train good; they’re all morning glories. You’ve got to wait until you go up against the best to see what you’ve got.

“He’s trained down like a good horse, but when they get behind the gate, the class comes out of them. We’ll see if he’s got any. It’s just a matter of whether he’s got the speed and the will to race against top horses. We’ll start in the sire stakes. That will determine whether we take a shot in the big one.”

Buzz Bomb, driven by Meittinis, finished third from post eight at Freehold in his only start, which was April 21. He was fourth in a qualifier on April 30 at the Meadowlands, driven by John Campbell, who is listed to drive in the Dexter. He was timed in 1:58.4, with a :28.3 final quarter-mile.

“(At Freehold) from the eight hole, he trotted a big last half,” Meittinis said. “He went the last quarter in :29.2 and was three deep in the last turn into the wind. He trotted really well. That convinced me to put him in (the Dexter).

“There are a couple other horses in there that haven’t been raced that much, also. We’re going to give him a shot.”

Buzz Bomb, who sold under the name Winnie The Chin, was renamed by Simonelli. Her parents met during World War II — her Brooklyn-born father, Nicholas LaBella, was in the service and her mother, Betty, grew up in England — and she remembered them telling her stories about the German buzz bomb attacks on Great Britain.

She named her stable in honor of her mother and likes to give horses a name with a World War II connection.

“I wanted to keep the memory of them and their love alive,” Simonelli said of her parents, who are both deceased.

Meittinis said the name fits their horse.

“He’s like a little buzz bomb,” Meittinis said. “He’s very playful; he doesn’t have his mind on what he’s doing yet. He’s very green. He doesn’t really focus yet, which is why he’ll need a couple of starts. But around the barn, he’s just a pleasure. He’s like a little kid running around the paddock, bucking and kicking and playing. He’s got a great personality.”

Meittinis bought Buzz Bomb, a son of Windsong’s Legacy out of Ms Matched Pearls, as a yearling for $6,000 at the Standardbred Horse Sale. Meittinis was interested in the horse because he owned and trained his half brother Pearlaway, who was talented but hindered — and ultimately retired — by knee woes.

Buzz Bomb qualified last July, but a pus pocket in his left-front foot caused him to lose time and Meittinis decided to turn him out for the year.

“I loved (Pearlaway); he had a lot of ability,” Meittinis said. “So I knew the family and I liked this little colt; he looked sharp. He looked great in the paddock, very athletic. We took a shot, especially at that price.

“He showed a lot of promise at 2. He was the talk of Florida all winter last year. He trained down awesome (with trainer Scott Andrews). It was just unfortunate with the foot that we lost the whole summer. But he’s come back good and we’re hoping for a nice season with him.”

How nice? Meittinis is about to find out.