from Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association

Mohammed Mali has embodied the spirit of a fighter as he has bounced back from several setbacks to earn the role of the 9-5 favorite in the $99,300 Horse & Groom Final on Sunday afternoon at the Meadowlands.

Mohammed Mali will gun for his seventh straight victory as he leaves from post six, with driver David Miller, in the afternoon’s sixth race.

Mark Harder trains the five-year-old gelding for the partnership of Victor and Joseph Leonardis, who race as D’Elegance Stable IX of Florham Park, New Jersey; Carmen Iannacone of Lyndhurst, New Jersey; and John and Lamia Guarniere’s Rce Stable of Princeton, New Jersey.

Mohammed Mali was a $60,000 yearling purchased at the 2001 Tattersalls Sale in Lexington, Kentucky. The son of Malabar Man-Ruby Crown is a half-brother to Sweden’s Scarlet Knight, the 2001 Hambletonian winner and, until his retirement this year, one of Europe’s top trotters.

Mohammed Mali was unraced at two and his first few starts at three were disappointing, prompting the initial owner partnership of Jerry Silva, Sampson Street Stables, TLP Stable and D’Elegance Stable to enter the trotter in the Tattersalls Mixed Sale in July 2003.

“We just couldn’t get things ironed out with him at three,” explained owner Victor Leonardis. “But he only brought $21,000, and my father [Joseph] bought him back because he felt we couldn’t let him go for that amount. My father deserves the credit because he’s the one who kept pushing along with him. We knew the talent was always there and got a new group together.”

The Leonardises formed a new partnership with Iannacone and Rce Stable and tried racing the New Jersey-bred sophomore in the New Jersey Sire Stakes at Freehold. Mohammed Mali suffered another setback on September 12, 2003 when he made a jump during a race at the half-mile track and cut an artery in his leg.

After two months off, he was back in training and went on to sweep the first two legs of the Super Bowl Series in January 2004 at the Meadowlands. He made a break in the Super Bowl Final and did not race again until the end of July 2004, when he was transferred from Noel Daley’s barn into the care of Mark Harder. Mohammed Mali won two of three races for Harder last summer before being turned out for the rest of the year, ending the season with a record of four wins and one third in six starts. “We had to geld him [after the Super Bowl],” Leonardis said. “He was sore and just wasn’t comfortable with himself. So we gave him a lot of time off. [After he raced in July] he proved he was going to be okay, so we gave him the time off he needed to get to the next stage.”

That patience has paid off as Mohammed Mali rides a six-race winning streak into Sunday’s Horse & Groom Final, and the trotter will have plenty of opportunities to add to his bankroll this season. He is eligible to both of the Meadowlands’ three-week spring trotting series, the Father Foley and Hiram Woodruff, as well as the Arthur J. Cutler Memorial and the Titan Cup.

“We just kept taking our shot with him,” Leonardis said. “He’s overcome all of his aches and pains. He’s staked for the rest of the year, and we’ll let him dictate if he can make the next step up. If he can, that’s great.”

Victor Leonardis, and his father, Joseph, own Leonardis Memorial Home in Florham Park, a family owned and operated business, for 80 years.

$99,300 HORSE & GROOM FINAL

PP, Horse, Driver, Trainer, ML

1, Miss Fairfax, Jim Morrill Jr., Kevin Welty, 4-1
2, Sent From Above, George Brennan, Stephanie Cruise, 15-1
3, Final Legacy, Eric Ledford, Jimmy Takter, 8-1
4, Speed of Shogun, Cat Manzi, Don Sider, 8-1
5, Hurri Kane Billy G, Yannick Gingras, John McDermott, 12-1
6, Mohammed Mali, David Miller, Mark Harder, 9-5
7, Striking Rum, Brent Holland, Virgil Morgan Jr., 15-1
8, HZ Easy, Brian Sears, Kevin McDermott, 5-1
9, Rickie, Daniel Dube, Jim Raymer, 8-1
10, Master Choice, Ron Pierce, Ricky Maher Jr., 15-1