from the Meadowlands Publicity Department

East Rutherford, NJ — Trainer Trond Smedshammer is busy with a trio of older trotters in the Su Mac Lad Series on Sunday afternoon at the Meadowlands, but he also has the 2004 Hambletonian on his mind.

The seven-year-old jet setter HP Paque heads Smedshammer’s three horse Su Mac Lad contingent on Sunday. He will start from post one in the fifth race, the first of the two $50,000 Su Mac Lad divisions on the card. His entrymate Center Field has drawn post seven in the same race, while their stablemate Elegant Man has post eight in the sixth race Su Mac Lad division.

In his first start of 2004, HP Paque drew off to a 1:56¹ victory in his Su Mac Lad Series division last week, flashing a final quarter of :26³ seconds. The well-traveled trotter had been off since completing a four race campaign in Italy in November and early December.

The son of Tabor Lobell, owned by Timo H. Yli Panula of Pompano Beach, Florida, has career earnings of $935,861.

“He’s a classy horse,” he said. “Some people wonder why he has so few starts, but a horse with his ability always has some little problems, and you’ve got to pick your spots with him. He’s so easy to get back ready to race. Look at him last week. He was in mid-summer form, and believe me, he was not tuned up at all because he doesn’t train fast here on the farm.”

HP Paque made only 13 starts in 2003 but banked a hefty $489,561. He was second in the $450,00 Nat Ray on Hambletonian Day at the Meadowlands and won a Maple Leaf Trot elimination and finished second in the $630,110 final in September at Mohawk. He earned another $191,183 in his four races in Italy, including a victory in the prestigious Gran Premio delle Nazioni. He also competed in Sweden’s famed Elitlopp last May, but finished eighth in the first heat.

“I wouldn’t call HP Paque’s schedule limited this year, and because of his style I’d also like to race him in Europe again,” he said. “If everything goes as planned, he’ll get a bit of break after the Su Mac Lad before he ships to Italy for the Lotteria. Then, two weeks later, he’ll go to Oslo, Norway for the Grand Prix, and two weeks after that, he’ll race in the Elitlopp again. He’ll come back here and have a month to get back on his feet. He has the Titan Cup, the Breeders Crown, and hopefully, he’ll get invited to the Nat Ray. Then he goes to Canada.”

In addition to his older stakes contenders, Smedshammer is prepping a young group of trotters for the season’s richest events. But the Norwegian native will be in a much different position heading into this year’s Hambletonian.

Harness racing’s ultimate prize, the $1 million Hambletonian for three-year-old colt trotters is scheduled for Saturday, August 7 at the Meadowlands.

After finishing third in the 1997 Hambletonian with Bowlin For Dollars, Smedshammer landed in the spotlight with Power To Charm in 2003.

The colt was installed as the even money favorite in the $1 million Hambletonian Final after winning the Stanley Dancer Trot and his Hambletonian elimination. The attention focused on the colt was further buoyed by the story of Hall of Fame driver John Campbell, who was aiming for an unprecedented sixth Hambletonian win after being sidelined with an elbow injury from March to June.

Unfortunately, a victory was not in the cards for the pair that day. Power To Charm had a short lead entering the stretch but tired and faded to fifth, paving the way for Amigo Hall’s 27-1 upset over the field.

Power To Charm closed out his sophomore season with $500,000 in earnings and now stands as a stud in Sweden.

“Everybody told me Power To Charm looked like he couldn’t lose on Hambletonian Day,” he recalled. “He was exposed to something on Tuesday or Wednesday of the week between the elimination and the final. I still don’t know exactly what it was. He had a higher temperature than normal, a bit of a fever when I trained him, but he looked fresh and was feeling good. Whatever it was knocked him around. He was so tired after that race and days later he was just exhausted. Most horses will bounce back, even in a month or so, but he was never the same horse after that. In the fall, he did race decently in Kentucky and later on in the Matron his heart fibrillated. Obviously, he had a bug or a virus in his body, which can only go away in time by itself.”

Although Smedshammer does not have a bona fide star among his sophomore trotters this year, he remains optimistic about getting another chance at Hambletonian glory.

“I thought I had a couple of colts that were Hambletonian prospects this year, but Tennis Champ took a step back with some surgery,” he said. “He’s a big, strong Pine Chip colt that I raced lightly last year. He’s a brother to Credit Winner. The only one that I would seriously consider at the moment is Solomon Blue Chip. I think he can be a Hambletonian type of horse. He’s also a big, strong colt by Lindy Lane who made a break in his Peter Haughton elimination and came back to win.”

Solomon Blue Chip won four of 10 starts last year, including his Peter Haughton Memorial elimination at the Meadowlands and divisions of the Reynolds Stake and Pennsylvania Sires Stakes at Pocono. He was $300 shy of $100,000 in earnings for the season.

Smedshammer also looks forward to the return of 2003 Two-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the Year Stroke Play.

“I’ve also got a nice Muscles Yankee filly named Housethatruthbuilt, who took a mark of 1:57 and made $136,669 as a two-year-old,” he said. “Stroke Play will be ready to qualify in two weeks.”

With the undefeated 2003 Two-Year-Old Colt of the Year Cantab Hall expected to return this season, Smedshammer and Solomon Blue Chip face a difficult task ahead.

“I’ve said the Hambletonian is not the be all and end all for me, and you need a lot of luck and power,” he said. “I just don’t go after those big priced yearlings. In general, it’s a bad investment, but I still would’ve loved to work with a horse like Cantab Hall. Right now, I haven’t got anything in the barn to go with him and Tom Ridge, so I just have to hope to pick up the pieces. We’re certainly heading in the right direction, and it’ll happen some day.”

Smedshammer, 37, came to the United States in 1987 after a mandatory year in the Norwegian army and was virtually penniless when he took a job in the barn of fellow Norwegian Per Henriksen. He stayed for six months before heading back to Norway, where he continued to train harness horses. He returned to the United States. a year later to work for Lindy Farms. In 1992, Smedshammer decided to open a stable of his own at White Birch Farm in Allentown, New Jersey.

“When I went on my own over 10 years ago, I was able to get a stable going pretty quick, but with a lot of horses nobody else wanted,” he said. “Now, we continue to build things up gradually, and I’ve been involved with some quality owners and very good help. It’s important to have a good relationship with patient owners, especially when you have trotters. I’ve also been able to generate some capital for myself. I did some staking the other day and saw that I own part of 26 horses. We have between 55 and 60 currently in training, and 31 are two-year-olds.”