by Ken Weingartner, Media relations, Harness Racing Communications

East Rutherford, NJ — The highs and lows of racing were on display Saturday morning as the opening of baby races were held at the Meadowlands.

The track hosted 12 races for 2-year-old trotters and pacers, with the Jimmy Takter Stable posting five victories on the day. The stables of trainers Ray Schnittker and Robin Schadt both had two winners.

USTA/Ken Weingartner photo

Bigrisk, under the name Hitting The Cycle, was a $450,00 purchase at last fall’s Lexington Selected Sale.

Many eyes were focused on colt pacer Bigrisk, who was purchased last fall under the name Hitting The Cycle for $450,000 at the Lexington Selected Sale; a price that set the record for a pacing colt. Bigrisk is from the first crop of 2008 Horse of the Year Somebeachsomewhere and out of Artistic Vision, the dam of 2010 Horse of the Year Rock N Roll Heaven.

Bruce Saunders trains Bigrisk for owner Frank Bellino; the same connections as Rock N Roll Heaven.

Unfortunately, Bigrisk went off stride in his baby race after bumping the starting gate and was fifth in the five-horse field. The race was won by Schadt-trained Odds On Equuleus, driven by John Campbell for owner Odds On Racing, in 1:57.

“We’ll regroup and be back next week,” Saunders said. “It’s just a little disappointing for all of us. We had such anticipation and were looking forward to his debut. The owners were here and were all excited. It’ll be better. In the big picture, it has no relevance.

“It’s a good experience for him to learn what can happen so he won’t make that mistake again. He’s a very intelligent horse. He was looking forward to working today too.”

Saunders remained enthusiastic about Bigrisk’s future.

“He’s a terrific horse,” Saunders said. “He’ll be fine. He’s done everything right. You can look at him; he looks the part of a great athlete, and he is.

“It is what it is. It won’t happen again. I’ll school him on the farm, let him see the gate again. I don’t know what was going on behind the gate, whether anybody was making noise or wheels were rattling or anything. I was stunned when he ran because he’s been a push-button horse and done nothing wrong. Now is a good time to get it out of the way, before you’re going for $200,000.”

USTA/Ken Weingartner photo

To Dream On, a filly trotter by Credit Winner, won by 22 lengths for driver/trainer Jimmy Takter.

Takter’s 2-year-old filly trotter To Dream On got the day off to an eye-opening start. To Dream On is the first foal out of Satin Pillows, who is a half-sister to former Takter star Pampered Princess and was purchased for $200,000 at the Standardbred Horse Sale.

To Dream On, by Credit Winner, was driven by Takter and won by 22 lengths in 1:57.3, with a stunning :26.4 final quarter-mile.

“She was exceptional,” Takter said. “She is maybe the best trotting filly I’ve brought out at this point. She was under wraps and came :26.4 the last quarter. That filly is wicked fast. She’s unbelievable.”

Takter’s other winners were colt trotters Kegler Hanover (Crazed-Kimberidge Hanover) and Apollo Hanover (Muscles Yankee-Audra Hall) plus colt pacers Source Of Pride (American Ideal-Trim Hanover) and Artist Night (American Ideal-Midnight Art).

Source Of Pride is a full-brother to Takter’s star filly pacer American Jewel. He won in 1:59.1, with a :26.4 final quarter-mile.

Takter’s Live Entertainment, a homebred half-sister to two-time divisional champion See You At Peelers, finished third in her debut. Schadt’s Odds On Alpha (Somebeachsomewhere-Odds On Arttoheart) won the race in 1:57.

“The second or third time out, that’s when horses start settling in,” Takter said. “There’s a lot of nervousness (the first time). They don’t know where to look, especially if you’re up front cutting the mile. Some horses mature a little faster, but usually the second or third time you start seeing which ones have the ability.

“I thought a lot of horses looked good. It was a good behaving group of youngsters out here today. I’d say it was a great group of baby races today.”

Schnittker picked up wins with filly trotter Caneel Hall (Deweycheatumnhowe-Colleen Hall) and Sinatra Hall (Deweycheatumnhowe-Sugar N Chips). He also had three horses finish second.

“It was good,” Schnittker said. “I had a couple that didn’t go quite what I thought, but a couple went better. A couple of my Deweys went very well. I was more than happy with my Deweys and a couple of my pacing colts seem like they’re OK. It was a good first day. We had no disasters.”

Other winners were Kevin McDermott’s colt pacer Lonewolf Currier (The Panderosa-Ladyking), Ron Burke’s colt pacer Americasgottalent (American Ideal-Sunduel A) and Joe Holloway’s filly pacer Shebestingin (Bettor’s Delight-Armbro Tussle).