Gordon Waterstone

Lexington, KY — Miami Valley is playing host to eliminations of the James K. Hackett Memorial for Ohio-sired 3-year-olds of both gaits and genders this week, and on Wednesday (April 20) the male trotters will take their turn on the track. A pair of $20,000 elims are slated, with the top four in each returning for the $50,000 final the following Wednesday (April 27).

Trainer Chris Beaver will send out a pair of trotters in each elim, including Ohio’s 2021 2-year-old male Trotter of the Year The Mighty Hill, who will be making his season’s debut following a pair of qualifying efforts. The Mighty Hill, who will be driven by Brett Miller, will start in post five in the first elim (race six), and he will be joined by stablemate Rose Run Xander, who lines up in post six with driver Ronnie Wrenn Jr.

While The Mighty Hill won his first qualifier at Beaver’s winter base of Spring Garden Ranch in Florida on March 23 in wire-to-wire fashion in 1:58.2 with Beaver directing, things went awry a bit in the second attempt on April 8 at Miami Valley after the stable shipped north to Ohio. In that race, The Mighty Hill finished sixth — by 16 lengths — after sitting in the two hole until the three-quarter pole.

The Mighty Hill, a son of What The Hill-Maxine The Mighty, won five of eight starts last year and $270,365. JJ Zamaiko photo.

“I wasn’t really happy with the qualifier,” said Beaver. “The horses weren’t getting over the track that good and he kind of flattened out on me. I was in the three hole early with him and the horse ran in front of him and he worked pretty hard to catch up to the horse in front of him. It may have been a little much for him right off the bat. I scoped him after and checked for blood and there’s no problems, so I suspect he’ll snap back this week.

“And I definitely don’t get the same thing out of a horse that a catch-driver does,” he added with a laugh.

A $23,000 yearling purchase by Beaver, Don Robinson and VIP Internet Stable, The Mighty Hill, a son of What The Hill-Maxine The Mighty, won five of eight starts last year and $270,365. Included among his victories was a world record for 2-year-old gelding trotters on a half-mile track when he scored in 1:55.4 in the $300,000 Ohio Sires Stakes final on Sept. 5 at Northfield Park.

The Mighty Hill finished up his freshman campaign with a fourth-place finish in the Mohawk Million on Sept. 25 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

“We won a spot in the race after I bought into a promotion with EquineX who had bought a slot,” explained Beaver. “They ended up picking the most accomplished horse eligible to it, so we got the spot.”

Beaver said except for the disappointing qualifier at Miami Valley two weeks ago, The Mighty Hill is a much different horse than he was at this time one year ago.

“He was really slow to come along as a 2-year-old,” said Beaver. “Last year in April he was still trying to put it together. You could have said he was lame looking at him, but he was just interfering and couldn’t get out of his way until he got to a certain speed. So I didn’t have him staked to much, other than Ohio. That’s why I started him out in the Buckeye Series instead of the Sires Stakes, because it seemed like I had a half dozen better. Then he set a track record (1:56.3 at Northfield Park) in the first leg. He later lowered it with his world record in the Sires Stakes final.

“He’s trotting really good and he’s straight, and he really wasn’t that way last year. He was a little more foul-gaited and harder to keep in a straight line; this year he’s got all that going.”

Beaver added that in addition to the Ohio Sires Stakes circuit, The Mighty Hill is eligible to only a handful of major stakes, including the Canadian Trotting Classic at Woodbine Mohawk Park and the Earl Beal Jr. Memorial at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.

Unlike five-time winner The Mighty Hill, Rose Run Xander comes into the Hackett elim winless in 10 starts, including nine last year and once in 2022. The son of Triumphant Caviar-Loconotion, who was an $8,000 yearling purchase by Beaver, Jim Burnett, Tim Homan and Steven Zeehandelar, finished second in his sophomore debut on April 12 at Northfield Park.

In that race, Rose Run Xander opened up a six-length lead at the opening quarter of :27.3 for driver Wrenn, and after reaching the next two stations in :56.1 and 1:26.1, tired late to finish 1-3/4 lengths behind in a 1:56.3 mile.

“I thought if (Wrenn) was able to put him in a hole last week at Northfield he would have raced really good,” said Beaver. “He kind of got loose on the front end and he overdid it. I was really happy with the effort he put out. I think if he follows along he might be competitive in there. I wasn’t going to race him in the Hackett but I figured I’d give him a shot.”

Beaver trainees bookend the second Hackett elimination (race eight) as Caviar Gold and driver Aaron Merriman will start from post one and Pappardelle and driver Wrenn will start from post eight.

Caviar Gold will be making his 2022 debut after posting three wins in seven starts with $89,000 in earnings in 2021. Conrad photo.

Caviar Gold will be making his 2022 debut after posting three wins in seven starts with $89,000 in earnings in 2021 for owners Beaver, Bill Manes, Leo Fleming and Zeehandelar. A son of Triumphant Caviar, Caviar Gold’s dam is the Beaver-owned Gee O’Keeffe, who won on the Ontario Sires Stakes circuit in 2014 for Beaver.

Caviar Gold opened up his freshman season with three consecutive victories (two in Ohio Sires Stakes and the Ohio State Fair), but then came up short his next four attempts, going offstride twice.

“He was going to have a big year last year but he started having problems in a foot and I couldn’t get him straightened out,” explained Beaver. “He blew an abscess out and then he had a quarter crack; the breaks at the end of the year are all related to that.”

Caviar Gold comes into the Hackett elim off a second in a Spring Garden Ranch qualifier and a 1:59.1 qualifying victory on April 8 at Miami Valley. He is also now racing on Lasix.

“He’s been really good this year,” said Beaver. “He’s a little bit on the lazy side, but I do think there is more there.”

As for Pappardelle, he went winless in nine starts last year. A $65,000 yearling purchase by The Delaware Group, Equinex Racing Corp. and Joe Sbrocco, the son of Wishing Stone-Long Island Tea has a first and second in two qualifiers this year. Beaver is also now racing Pappardelle without trotting hobbles, which he wore all of last year.

“As far as training down, he’s the best training 3-year-old I have,” said Beaver. “He pretty much had everybody’s number training down this year. It concerns me though because he trained really well last year but when I got him home he fell apart and struggled for awhile. He started to come on later but it was past the point where we could do much good with him. He never did a thing wrong training down. But he started struggling in the turns and started getting a little bit stupid behind the starting gate.”

The two Hackett eliminations for the 3-year-old male trotters are part of a 14-race Miami Valley card that gets underway at 4:05 p.m. For complete entries, click here.