Editor’s Note: To watch an interview with Anette Lorentzon from the USTA’s Hambletonian Contenders series, presented by the Hambletonian Society and Winbak Farm, click here. For an interview with Chris Beaver, click here.
Cranbury, NJ – Big Ranger, a son of In Range-Big Blue Bird, won his $100,175 Hambletonian elimination this past weekend easily in rein to Tim Tetrick, stopping the timer in a career-best 1:50, with a :26.3 final brush. Anette Lorentzon trains the bay colt, who was bred by Utica, Ohio’s Spring Haven Farm, and owned by Madison Global of Dundee, Ohio.
It was Big Ranger’s fifth consecutive win, after having rattled off triumphs in the $75,000 Oak Grove Trotting Derby consolation (May 16) in 1:52.3; a pair of $75,000 Ohio Sires Stake contests (May 25 and June 13) in 1:51.2 and 1:50.3; and a $20,000 Buckeye Stallion Stake (July 18) in 1:51.4.
“It didn’t really surprise me because he’s been doing everything so handy since we got him,” Lorentzon said about Big Ranger’s elimination performance. “He hasn’t faced these kinds of horses since back in May, so you never know. I had faith in the horse, but everything had to go right, and it did. The (Hambletonian) final is a new race. But at least we got this over with and he showed what kind of horse he is.
“I know a lot of people questioned my decision on how to prepare for this; that I took him to the Buckeye Stallion Series because it’s easier,” she continued. “It had nothing to do with being easier. It had to do with a five-eighths at Scioto instead of a half-mile at Northfield since he was never paid into anything up to the Hambo. I tried to do what I thought was best for the horse leading up to here. So far, it seems like it’s working out. We just have to be this good, or even better, for next week.”
As a freshman, Big Ranger won seven of seven starts and earned $370,610 for trainer/driver Ronnie Gillespie, recording a mark of 1:53.4 in his final start of the year when he captured the $300,000 Ohio Sires Stakes championship. Lorentzon assumed the training duties in late May.
“He impressed me from day one,” noted driver Tetrick after his Hambletonian elim. “He’s super smart, he’s got big lungs; he’s a real animal. He impressed me and went under the wire strongly. He passed a lot of tests today.”
“Timmy told me it felt like he was on a Sunday stroll (in the elim),” Lorentzon said. “He can be a little bit of a handful because he’s got so much energy. He’s got to have his routine: first in the morning, otherwise he’s got way too much energy. You’ve got to do it in his way. He’s a very happy horse. When you train him at home, he doesn’t show much. He’s just a very good horse to be around. To me, he’s unbelievable. Right now, he seems to be the best one I’ve had. He’s raced with shoes and he will be racing the same way next week; I don’t want to take any chances doing anything different.”
Big Ranger has career earnings of $547,947, with 12 wins in 14 starts. His grandsire, Bar Hopping, won his 2016 Hambo elim (in 1:51.4), while his great-grandsire Muscle Hill won his 2009 elim and Hambo final (in 1:50.1). His broodmare sire, Tactical Landing, won his 2018 elim (in 1:52.1), and was third in the final.
But Big Ranger’s story doesn’t end here. Much of his success can be attributed to the immediate genetics of his sire In Range T, 3, 1:51.4 (793,037), who absolutely made his presence known in 2025 during his first year as stallion in Ohio, as well as his dam, the prolific Ilia, who is a daughter of Windsong’s Legacy T,3,1:53 ($1,744,644), out of the Super Pleasure T, 3, 1:58f ($827,238) mare Tasha Yar T,3,1:57.2s ($254,155). Prior to foaling In Range, Ilia produced Tight Lines (by Yankee Glide) T, 7, 1:51.2f ($626,199) in 2013; Long Tom (by Muscle Hill) T, 3, 1:52.1 ($410,513) in 2013; and Field Gunner (by Kadabra) T, 3, 1:56.4f ($58,273) in 2017). She also produced Go Boom (by Muscle Hill) T2, 1:54.1 ($120,240) in 2022, among others.
The son of the aforementioned Bar Hopping, In Range stands at Hickory Lane Farm in Findlay, Ohio, and has been a dream come true for the team of stallion manager Brad Wallace and stallion syndicate manager Kevin Greenfield.
“I’m a trotting guy and always follow them,” Kevin admitted. “Robert Lindstrom called me one day when I was one my way to the Ohio Jug Sale and said, ‘I have this horse In Range, would you be interested in buying him?’ It was the first year for Long Tom, who was at Midland Acres then, and he had had a very good year. I remembered In Range when he won his first races as a baby.
“Robert said the horse would be at the Red Mile and that I could take a look at him,” Kevin continued. “I loved his breeding and he was really good looking. I was offered another stallion at the same time, who was a no-brainer to take, but after I saw In Range, I told Brad, this is the horse I want. And he was affordable for us. I contacted Archie Yoder at Rose Run Farm and asked him if he wanted to buy in on the horse, and I put in 75% and Archie put in 25% and we bought him.”
Kevin established the In Range Syndicate on Jan. 6, 2022, selling shares to “mostly Ohio people.” The shares were $10,000 each and offered two breedings a year for four years.
“We got all the shares sold,” Kevin said. “I told Brad that this horse is going to be tremendous after we saw what his three-quarter brother did. I truly felt he had success written all over him. He’s not too big, not too small, with a great head and perfect confirmation.”
Wallace agrees with Kevin’s assessment of In Range.
“He’s a great horse to be around, with a great attitude, and is quiet and easy to handle,” Brad confirmed. “He’s good looking and fertile and is a good breeder. He’s just a fantastic horse to be around and work with and he really stamps his babies. You can go out in the field of yearlings, and you can pick his babies out. Gait-wise, they all have a great gait. In Range is a big, tall, lanky horse and his babies have a lot of reach to them in their stride when they’re trotting through the field. They look like a fast trotter, as he’s a knockout looking thing. He’s impressive and I enjoy showing him to people because he’s so nice looking. We feel lucky to have a fertile Bar Hopping stallion.”
In Range earned $793,037 from 27 starts, with seven wins, six seconds, and six thirds during his racing career as a 2- and 3-year-old. His progeny earnings, which include Big Ranger (his fastest son and second-highest earner), now total more than $4.6 million from 112 total starters, with 44 in 2:00 and six in 1:55.
Endurance
Endurance was a whisker short to the winning Apex in his $100,175 Hambletonian elimination, clocked in 1:50.4, with a :26.2 final panel in a thrilling, come-from-behind stretch drive.
Driven by Andrew McCarthy for Ohio-based trainer Chris Beaver, the son of Captain Corey-Love Session has four wins and two seconds under his belt this season in six starts, having earned $316,392 for the partnership of Super Endurance Stable of Radner, OH; Bill G. Manes of Rockwood, ON; Leo Fleming of Campbellsville, ON, and Mark Moger of Amelia Island, FL.
“We have not raced him very hard,” Beaver said. “He doesn’t take a lot of work to get in shape. He doesn’t really have any bad qualities. Probably the most important thing is that he can carry his speed as much as you need him to. He’s got good manners, he’s intelligent, he’s easy on himself, he eats good; he’s just an absolute pleasure.”
Beaver has had Endurance for the colt’s entire career, with McCarthy being his main pilot. The colt won five Kentucky Sires Stakes as a freshman and the $400,000 championship in a seasonal-best 1:52.3 and was second to Apex in the Mohawk Million. He procured earnings of $557,450 from six wins and a second in eight starts at 2.
This year, Endurance won his $50,000 Oak Grove Trotting Derby elim (May 4) in a career-best 1:51.3 before finishing second in the $500,000 final (May 16) to Spencer Hanover but rebounded to win a $50,502 PA Sires Stakes (June 6) in 1:51.4. He won the $90,675 Currier & Ives (June 26) at The Meadows in 1:52.4 and then took a $145,900 division of the Stanley Dancer (July 11) at The Meadowlands in 1:52.
Beaver also serves as Endurance’s caretaker.
“I’ve been taking care of him myself all summer long,” Beaver said. “He’s been good from the start. When he got beat at Oak Grove, it was a tough trip; he was parked first-up pretty much the whole mile. I can’t say that he’s done anything wrong this whole summer, or really ever. He did get beat on the front once as a 2-year-old, but I don’t think the front end is his trip. He’s better following cover, coming from off the pace. I think we’ve got a shot to be the best, so I’m thrilled. Everything has gone like we’ve wanted it to. I’ve never had a horse this good.”
Should Endurance capture the Hambletonian, he will follow in the footsteps of his sire, Captain Corey, who won his elimination before taking the 2021 final in 1:51 for trainer/driver Åke Svanstedt. Endurance’s broodmare sire, Muscle Massive, also won his Hambletonian final in 1:51, with Ron Pierce driving for Jimmy Takter in the 2010 contest.