by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

2011 Hambo Contender — Pastor Stephen from USTA on Vimeo.

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — Pastor Stephen is racing for more than Hambletonian glory on Saturday (August 6) at Meadowlands Racetrack. Pastor Stephen is racing for Africa.

Earlier this year, Pastor Stephen’s connections announced they would donate five percent of the horse’s earnings to benefit Villages in Partnership, an organization founded by the Rev. Stephen Heinzel-Nelson and his wife, Liz, to assist the people of Malawi. The effort is called “Pastor Stephen Racing for Africa.”

Pastor Stephen, owned by Christina Takter, John Fielding and Brittany Farms, was the Dan Patch Award winner as the sport’s best 2-year-old male trotter in 2010 after winning six of 11 races and earning $653,748. On Saturday, he will try to add the $1.5 million Hambletonian to his list of accomplishments.

Trainer Jimmy Takter named Pastor Stephen in honor of the Rev. Heinzel-Nelson, the pastor of Allentown Presbyterian Church in central New Jersey, and a longtime family friend. The Rev. Heinzel-Nelson and family spent nearly the entire year of 2008 in Malawi, which led to the creation of Villages in Partnership.

Villages in Partnership brings assistance on a multitude of levels, from building wells for clean water, to constructing schools and medical clinics, to initiating agricultural improvements and reforestation projects. In recent weeks, the organization has been selling Pastor Stephen T-shirts at the Meadowlands in addition to providing information about Villages in Partnership. The group will be at the track again Saturday.

“If people hear about it and become inspired and want to make a donation or get involved in some way, it’s a win-win,” the Rev. Heinzel-Nelson said. “That’s what it’s all about. It’s using this opportunity to call attention to people whose lives are really, really difficult on a day-to-day basis and how we can help and make a difference. Every little bit makes a big difference over there.”

One member of Pastor Stephen’s cheering section will be absent Saturday. Liz Heinzel-Nelson recently returned to Malawi and will be gone for several more weeks. There is a six-hour time difference.

“She’ll be the first phone call from the track, for sure,” the Rev. Heinzel-Nelson said, adding with a laugh, “It might be late, but she’ll wait up.”

Chris Gooden photo

Pastor Stephen heads into the Hambletonian final with nine wins in 18 lifetime starts and earnings of $850,549.

So far this season, Pastor Stephen — the horse — has won three of seven races and earned $196,801. He won his first three starts before finishing second in the $500,000 Earl Beal Jr. Memorial at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. After another second-place finish in the 3-Year-Old Open at the Meadowlands on July 8, he was seventh in a division of the Stanley Dancer Memorial.

Pastor Stephen was discovered to be fighting a virus. He bounced back to finish third in his Hambletonian elimination last weekend, finishing 2-1/4 lengths behind Manofmanymissions.

“He trotted well and looked good and was more comfortable with what he did,” Takter said. “His last start (in the Dancer) was really bad. Two weeks is a short time. You know yourself if you’ve been sick it takes a week for it to clear up and it takes another week to get strong again. He needed this. He could pop up a little bit here. I’ve got a ticket (to the final).”

After a pause, the trainer added, “Hopefully we can do something for Africa on Saturday. That would be very good.”

For more information about Villages in Partnership, visit the organization’s website at www.villagesinpartnership.org.

Below is the field for the $1.5 million Hambletonian final, with listed drivers, trainers and morning line odds:

PP-Horse-Driver-Trainer-ML
1-Broad Bahn-George Brennan–Noel Daley-4-1
2-Manofmanymissions-Andy Miller–Erv Miller-9-5
3-Fawkes-Yannick Gingras-Jonas Czernyson-15-1
4-Chapter Seven–Mike Lachance–Linda Toscano-7-2
5-Whit-Tim Tetrick-Homer Hochstetler-8-1
6-Whiskey Tax-Randy Waples-Thomas Durand-15-1
7-Opening Night-John Campbell–Jim Campbell-10-1
8-Magnum Kosmos-Brian Sears-Tony Dinges-15-1
9-Luckycharm Hanover-David Miller-Tom Haughton-15-1
10-Pastor Stephen-Ron Pierce–Jimmy Takter-10-1