from the Breeders Crown

Cranbury, NJ — While Somebeachsomewhere lounges in his luxury box at Mark Ford’s sparkling new training center in Wallkill, N.Y., his Canadian connections (who celebrated their country’s Thanksgiving in October) are enjoying a second feast at the Ford dinner table.

With friends and family arriving for “The Beach” send-off, they hope to catch some of the sights of Manhattan during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Driver Paul MacDonell chose the busiest travel day of the year in the States to begin what will be his farewell tour with the $3 million pacer from the Maritimes.

“I’m leaving Thursday and coming down a couple days early,” MacDonell said. “I’ll go over to the barn to check it all out, and soak it all up. That’s exactly what I’m planning on doing.”

Ironically, MacDonell and Somebeachsomewhere could eclipse the money-earnings record of $2.42 million set by 2000 Horse of the Year and Breeders Crown champion Gallo Blue Chip with a win in the $500,000 Breeders Crown on Saturday night. A victory in the Championship would push Somebeachsomewhere‘s single season earnings to $2.44 million. Gallo Blue Chip was trained by Mark Ford and enjoys a life of retirement in the field just ten minutes from where Somebeachsomewhere awaits his date with destiny.

The quest is a bittersweet one for MacDonell.

“It’s not a day we are looking forward to, that’s for sure,” MacDonell offered. “We knew it would come to an end sooner or later. It’s like you’re at the carnival and you have to get off the ride; that’s never fun. I talked to Brent (trainer MacGrath) and he was pretty pleased with the way Somebeachsomewhere trained. He’s never really trained bad, but you still like to have them right on their toes for their last race.”

MacGrath, who jogged Somebeachsomewhere this morning, agreed that the colt was “super and in great shape.”

“He’s really sharp and feeling good,” MacGrath said. “I might go a mile with him the day before the race. I do that a lot. I might do it if the weather is good and the track is good. If I go a mile with him, it’ll be in 2:30. It will be a little harder day than normal. But we’re in good shape.”

Somebeachsomewhere is riding a nine-race win streak heading into the Breeders Crown Final at The Meadowlands, and sports a solid record of 19 wins in 20 career starts, suffering his only loss in The Meadowlands Pace Final earlier this year. He’s the fastest 3-year-old in history thanks to his 1:46.4 Bluegrass Stakes division win at The Red Mile in Lexington this past fall — a time that equaled the fastest race mile in history set by Holborn Hanover in 2006, who was five when he took that mark.