from the Meadowlands Publicity Department

East Rutherford, NJ — Trainer Tyler Stillings knows his way around both a good story and a good trotter.

“Adonis B was a better story last week before he made a break,” the 35-year-old from Washington, Pennsylvania, conceded. “I think it was just first time jitters over the track, rushing a little too quick late in the mile, and (driver) Cat Manzi knowing him a little better.”

Adonis B is Stillings’ entrant in the three-week Charles Singer Memorial Trotting Series at the Meadowlands. The chestnut gelding is the 3-1 second choice in the morning line in race nine, the second of three $15,000 divisions of the second round of the Singer on Friday night (Nov. 24) at the Meadowlands.

The top 10 money earners after the first two weeks of prelims will advance to the $51,250 Singer Final on December 1.

The Singer shares the 12-race Friday night program with three $20,000 eliminations for the $410,000 Goldsmith Maid for 2-year-old trotting fillies and a $20,000 prep for the $432,700 Valley Victory for 2-year-old trotting colts and geldings. The Goldsmith Maid and Valley Victory are the trotting half of the $1.7 million Fall Final Four on December 2 at the Meadowlands.

Stillings grew up around horse racing but took the time to polish his academic skills at Pennsylvania’s Duquesne University.

“With my journalism degree I tend to be more analytical than I should, but I like to think I’m a student of the game,” he said. “If I couldn’t train or drive horses, I could always write about racing and handicapping. I graduated at noon on a Thursday, and I was on the track that night at six o’clock. So, I never had to sit down and think about it much. I enjoy it even when some nights are frustrating like last Friday.”

That was in the opening round of the Singer when Adonis B broke stride, finished fourth across the line and was placed sixth. The 3-year-old son of SJ’s Caviar, unraced at two, now has seven wins, five seconds and one third from 14 starts and earnings of $71,529.

“As a 2-year-old, he had been in 2:35 for (then owners) Arlene and Jules Siegel, and he developed a condition in his back legs called dystrophic calcification,” Stillings explained. “Basically, it’s a series of bumps the size of half a ping pong ball all the way up and down his legs. It happened overnight. Several vets looked at it, and they all said he’d never race. It mysteriously developed. They couldn’t pinpoint how it happened. When he had it, I watched him out in the field and it didn’t bother him. It seemed like it was just a cosmetic thing. We took him home, gelded him, and turned him out. We ignored it, and just as mysteriously as it came it went away.

“Travis Alexander (his former trainer) and I are good friends, and he knows me and my stepfather, Mark Goldberg, like to tinker around with trotters like him,” Stillings said, explaining how they acquired Adonis B.

“Unfortunately, he developed another problem where we couldn’t get him to do anything,” Stillings said. “When he did train, he showed some signs of talent. One day he trotted an eighth in 14 seconds from a stand still. That’s really the only reason he’s managed to stay around so long. He’s shown flashes of ability. All winter and spring he was terrible, and we took him out of everything except the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes.

“I don’t know how he did it, but my stepfather got him down to 2:06, and we entered him in the Delaware (Ohio) Sale,” he said. “We were hoping we could get him qualified in 2:04, and get all of our money back. The first time he put him behind the gate, he trotted in two minutes, last half in :57.4.

“We can’t tell you what happened,” Stillings explained. “This trotter just had an epiphany one day. It was like he was waiting to go behind the gate to put all of his cards on the table. Ever since then, he’s progressed. He’s far exceeded our expectations.

“He showed traces of (pulmonary) bleeding all summer, and we were treating it until we could put him on Lasix,” he added. “By far his best race was winning (in 1:56.4) on November 4 at the Meadows. We had everything in line that night. Even though he won in 1:54.4 at Lexington, he wasn’t as good. We were having trouble with his blood, but he hasn’t given us any lameness problems.

“This horse reminds me a lot of Prix D’Normandy (the trotter that gave Stillings his first winning drive at the Meadowlands on April 17, 2002),” he noted. “It’s actually an amazing similarity. They’re both red (chestnut) horses and race the same way.

“My mother, Curby Stillings, owns him,” he said. “She was the assistant racing secretary and program director at the Red Mile, and she does some work for the USTA (United States Trotting Association). She kept me away from the track when I was a kid, but gave me enough rope to do what I wanted.

“I’m at White Birch Farm (in Allentown, New Jersey), and I like to keep between three to six horses,” said Stillings, wrapping up a pretty good story. “I’ve got Hidden Viggorish in the barn for Bill Zendt. She’s in the Hudson Filly Trot on Saturday (at Yonkers). I just drove my 1,000th winner at the Meadows, but I’d rather just focus on training trotters. I have to be a bargain shopper and a scavenger. I look on other people’s scrapheaps. I try to find horses, shine them up and sell them, like Earl’s Charm K. I bought him for $8,500 and sold him to Ross Croghan for $70,000. That’s what I like to do. It’s a matter of finding them and having the patience. My stepfather does a great job at the Meadows. He gets them ready and sends them to me.”

Takter’s six seek spots in Goldsmith Maid & Valley Victory

It is no surprise that six of the 2-year-old trotters pointing toward the $1.7 million Fall Final Four on December 2 at the Meadowlands are from the barn of trainer Jimmy Takter.

In the three $20,000 divisions of the Goldsmith Maid for fillies on Friday night at the Meadowlands, Takter sends out Those Blue Eyes and Pampered Princess in the second race, Dream N Lindy in the third race and Celebrity Speedie in the fifth race. The top three finishers in each of the elims and the fastest fourth place filly will advance to the $410,000 Goldsmith Maid Final. The elimination winners will have choice of post positions.

With 11 colts and geldings entered, all will advance to the $432,700 Valley Victory Final. The Valley Victory Prep is carded as the eighth race, and Takter will send out Snowboarder and Quite Easy.

“We were planning to stop with Pampered Princess after the Breeders Crown, but good horses got beat up there that night,” said Takter, referring to the Crowns on October 28 at Canada’s Woodbine Racetrack. “It was a tough night, very windy and the track was funny. They went :59.3 to the half, and she had to be in overdrive in the third quarter. This is just a tremendous filly and deserves a shot in this race. (Her driver John Campbell) said she was the best 2-year-old he’s ever sat behind, and that’s a pretty big statement.”

Pampered Princess, winner of nine of 10 starts and $616,244, suffered her only loss of the year when she was second in the Breeders Crown Final. With Campbell sidelined with a broken leg, Takter has listed himself to drive the 2-5 morning line favorite on Friday night. Dave Palone has the call on her entrymate.

“Those Blue Eyes raced really well in her Matron elimination (finishing second),” Takter said. “She got a little reaction from that race but still finished third in the final (on November 11 at Dover Downs). She came along very late, but she’s a pretty game and tough filly.

“Dream N Lindy won a Matron elimination, but wasn’t really good in the final (making a break),” he noted. He has his son-in-law, Marcus Johansson, listed to drive the daughter of Conway Hall, who is rated 10-1 in the morning line.

“Celebrity Speedie (rated 5-2 from the rail with Ron Pierce in the bike) almost won her Breeders Crown elimination and lost by a nose in her Matron elimination,” Takter noted. “Of course, none of these others are in the same class as Pampered Princess.”

The Takter-trained entry is the 5-2 favorite in the Valley Victory Prep. Snowboarder, who won the $209,626 colt division of the Matron, will retain Dave Palone as driver while Takter will handle Quite Easy.

“Snowboarder was very good winning the Matron,” said Takter. “He’s the kind that could come right back and win again here. I like him a lot. He’s a late bloomer. Quite Easy was very good up until the Breeders Crown (fifth) but again that night was tough. He was beat by a nose in his elimination. He has won seven of 12 starts.”

Although Takter is best known for his trotters, he has had his share of stakes winning pacers.

“Mr Feelgood (who is in Monday’s Matron Final at Dover Downs) was for me a big surprise to win the Little Brown Jug,” he noted. “There are guys who try a lifetime to compete in it, and I won it in my first try. This is a top horse with a lot of speed and likes the smaller tracks.”

The queen of the Takter Stable, however, is a trotting mare named Passionate Glide, who captured this year’s $750,000 Hambletonian Oaks at the Meadowlands among her 13 wins in 15 starts.

“Passionate Glide was the most dominating in her class, and she’s just a very impressive horse,” said Takter. “I see no reason why she shouldn’t be Horse of the Year.”

Takter knows world-class trotting mares. He campaigned 1998 and 1999 Horse of the Year Moni Maker.

“It’s very exciting to bring her back (to race at four),” Takter said of Passionate Glide. “It’s been a few years, and I’ve been waiting for a horse to take Moni Maker’s spot. You never think it’s going to happen twice. I think this filly has the right package to come back as an older horse. Hopefully, we’ll even do a little international travel with her, too.”