by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — Trainer Don Swick could fall in love with this “Sweetheart.”

Special Sweetheart, a 3-year-old filly pacer, will start from post No. 6 in Saturday’s (June 13) $175,000 Thomas D’Altrui Miss New Jersey at the Meadowlands. She has won three of six races this year and earned $52,475. She has won six times in her career, banking $217,761. Last season, she was second to Hawaiian Drink in the Three Diamonds at Woodbine Racetrack. She is coming off a third-place finish in her Miss New Jersey elimination race, which was won by Dawn’s Legacy in 1:52.1.

“She’s got a really efficient gait; she doesn’t waste any motion,” Swick said. “Everything is forward with her. She’s willing to go; she’s not a horse you have to make do anything. That’s a lot from a filly.”

Lisa photo

Special Sweetheart has hit the board in 15 of her 17 lifetime starts, with earnings of $217,761.

Special Sweetheart, by Western Ideal, is a half sister to Ontario star I’m Just Special, who earned $448,150 last year. Her mother, Ladys Special Girl, was second to Sure Sign in the 2002 New Jersey Sire Stakes final for 2-year-old filly pacers. Special Sweetheart was seventh in the New Jersey Sire Stakes final for 3-year-olds on May 30, after battling to the front from post 10 in a :55.1 opening half-mile.

“She strikes me as a one-big-strong-move type horse. I think having to cut a mile out from the 10-hole might have been just too much for her,” Swick said. “She’s not necessarily a horse that needs a good trip, just a horse that maybe needs a half-mile of fight and not a whole mile of it.”

Showherthemoney won the other Miss New Jersey elim, in 1:52.2.

Here is the field in post position order, with listed drivers and trainers: 1. McGibson, T. Tetrick, L. Toscano; 2. Showherthemoney, B. Sears, B. Noren; 3. Personal Ad, J. Morrill, Jr., R. Croghan; 4. U Foria BB, D. Dube, A. Glide; 5. Scarlet McZara, A. Miller, B. Dalious; 6. Special Sweetheart, E. Goodell, D. Swick; 7. Arbeedo, A. McCarthy, R. Norman; 8. Precious Stone, D. Palone, R. Norman; 9. Perfectionist, T. Tetrick, J. Takter; 10. Dawn’s Legacy, G. Brennan, A. Mannino.