by David Mattia, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

New Brunswick, NJ — Primary AS, a Trond Smedshammer trainee, had little trouble winning his Stanley Dancer Memorial elimination last Friday night at The Meadowlands, and his vigor through the stretch reinforced his trainer’s ambitious hopes for a shot at The Hambletonian.

“It was only his fifth lifetime start,” said Smedshammer. “He was strong like he’s been strong in all of his starts but even more. Brian (Sears) never asked him for anything really. He’s been trotting on past the wire in all his starts and not getting tired. He’s getting better and stronger each time.”

Lisa Photo

Primary AS was a 1:54 winner in his Stanley Dancer Memorial elimination.

The Stanley Dancer Memorial found Primary AS mildly stung to the quarter in :28.3, but the very lightly raced son of Malabar Man–Proxima (Speedy Crown) effectively grabbed the front end and never looked back. He tripped the teletimer in 1:54, trotting a last quarter in :29. Donato Hanover won the other elimination in 1:53.3 with a :27.3 final panel.

Primary AS, his youth and lightly raced status notwithstanding, already has a history as an international traveler. Foaled in Sweden, Primary AS was brought to the United States as a juvenile to be raised in Kentucky, and the correct pronunciation of his name seems to have been lost in the trans-Atlantic translation. To get his name right, remember that “AS” rhymes with “boss.” Now, that might look like a phonetic stretch on paper, but if you want to talk trotters when The Hambletonian is closing in, it doesn’t hurt to know at least a little bit about the Scandinavian languages.

“In Sweden there would be a straight line over the letter A in ‘AS’ that you don’t have in English, and in Swedish it’s pronounced like awe,” says Smedshammer. “So Primary AS is actually pronounced Primary Awes.”

“The breeders (Ann-Christin Lorentzon and John Magnusson) send a lot of their young horses here. My owner (Karl Atle Kittelsen) is a young and ambitious guy. He picked out 12 of them before they came to the USA, and we’ve had good luck with two of them. Primary AS is turning out to be really good, and Artistic AS is the best 3-year-old in Sweden. Kittelsen has put a lot of money into the business and these two are his first real successes.”

Primary AS began his career on September 6, 2006 when he qualified at Lexington. He made a break in that start but came back a week later in another qualifier and trotted evenly to a second place finish in 2:02.1, defeated by none other than Donato Hanover. Finishing second to Donato Hanover that time was easy because he was the only other horse in the race, and Primary As was 15–3/4 lengths behind winner.

It seems, however, that in Smedshammer’s opinion, things have changed a bit since that two-horse qualifier, and the trainer’s confidence in his colt has been pumped up a bit.

“I don’t think Donato Hanover is unbeatable,” said Smedshammer without hesitation. “My horse is not a big tall horse but he’s stocky and strong and good-gaited. He’s got a good head on his shoulders, he’s fast and he likes what he’s doing. After the Dancer final he’s going on to the Hambletonian eliminations.”

Keep in mind that Smedshammer didn’t explicitly challenge Donato Hanover, but Primary AS is unquestionably a fresh horse with reasonable excuses for his limited experience, and Trond Smedshammer is not a man known for overstatement or excuse making. His confidence in Primary AS is being reinforced by the fact that the colt is becoming now what his trainer thought he’d become after last season — a season that was truncated to just one, albeit victorious, pari-mutuel race.

“He won the Bluegrass easy for me, but after that he got really sick. We had to put him on antibiotics and he missed the International Stallion Stakes and the Breeders Crown. I brought him back for one qualifier at Pocono but I could tell that he was going to get really good as a 3-year-old so I stopped with him. It was the right thing to do.”

Since returning this season, Primary AS has only one blemish on his pari-mutuel card; a fourth place finish in a $25,000 New Jersey Sires Stake division at The Meadowlands. Smedshammer blames himself for that.

“It was one of those races where you take a horse back and you end up too far out to catch up. It was a fast race (1:55.3) and even though he sprinted home (:27.3) he was too far back.”

Perhaps Trond Smedshammer isn’t aiming too high with Primary AS. After all, he is one of the most outstanding trotting trainers in the world, and if his horse continues to improve at his current rate, maybe he will indeed be a threat to Donato Hanover. The worst thing that could happen is that we wind up with a really exciting Hambletonian — as if they’re not all exciting enough.