from the Meadowlands Publicity Department

East Rutherford, NJ — After capturing his Meadowlands debut last week, The Quiet Mon looks to make an even bigger splash in Saturday’s (April 28) eliminations for the $225,000 Berry’s Creek.

A total of 16 colts are split between two $25,000 eliminations, races two and three. The top five in each elim will advance to the $225,000 Berry’s Creek, the first major test of the year for 3-year-old pacers, on Saturday, May 5.

Trained by John Butenschoen, The Quiet Mon is rated as the 7-5 morning line favorite from post two in the second race elim, with Andy Miller listed to drive. He enters the Berry’s Creek elims off two straight wins, a 1:52.1 score at Balmoral in his 2007 debut and a 1:51.1 effort last week at the Meadowlands. The son of Richess Hanover comes off a successful freshman season in which he won seven of nine starts and banked $215,100.

Unlike the typical stakes-bound yearling prospect, The Quiet Mon was acquired through a trade with Pat and Doc Walker’s Fox Valley Standardbreds of Sherman, Illinois.

“He was in the August 2005 sale for Fox Valley Standardbreds,” Butenschoen said. “I remember looking at him and on my catalog page I had written, ‘big, oversized colt.’ He didn’t bring his reserve. I had an Artsplace mare (Armbro Dexterous) at the time with a broken knee that I had trained for a while and I wanted to trade her for one of the Fox Valley yearlings. Remember that the original name for The Quiet Mon is Fox Valley Panzer. So they offered me my choice of four horses and I chose him because he had the least reserve on him of the four. I got him for good last January.”

Butenschoen and owner Ed Bardowski renamed the gelding for The Quiet Mon bar in the Virgin Islands, a favorite watering hole of Bardowksi and country singer Kenny Chesney. Butenschoen and Bardowski share ownership of The Quiet Mon with Sandra Zilli and Larry Baron.

“I was actually down there (at the bar) this past winter,” Butenschoen said. “It was kind of cool.”

Butenschoen, 44, got his start in the harness racing business working for legendary horseman Del Miller.

“It was 1983-1986,” he recalled. “I had a friend of mine who called me and told me I had to get down to Fort Lauderdale to see the beaches. Three days later, I was there. I was there to see the girls. I was 20 or 21 at the time and next thing I know he got me a job working for Del Miller. He didn’t know me and I didn’t know him too well, but I started working for him and stayed four winters.”

Butenschoen’s first top horse was Falcons Scooter, who won the 1996 New Jersey Classic while racing out of Ray Remmen’s barn at the Meadowlands. However, he is best known as the conditioner of trotting superstar Plesac, a winner of $2,501,758 who raced from 1999-2003.

“This horse reminds me a little of Plesac in one way,” Butenschoen said. “He never gets tired when you train him, just like Plesac. You don’t know how long they can keep it going, or how far they can go with it, but so far so good. This horse is a freak. He really is. Two fingers to drive, you say ‘go’ and he goes. He’s perfectly mannered. You say ‘whoa’ and he stops. He’s half-asleep when you look at him in the stall.”

Butenschoen is reluctant to take credit for the success of Plesac and The Quiet Mon, contending he has played a bit part in their achievements.

“It’s always the horse,” he said. “We can’t make them good. We can ‘allow’ them to be good. I’ve probably done better work with lesser horses in my barn than with The Quiet Mon, less talented than he. A good horse, a real good horse, like The Quiet Mon allows you to make a mistake. They overcome it. Top horses are born. We can condition them properly and keep them healthy, but sometimes it can simply be a matter of staying out of the way.”

In addition to the Berry’s Creek, The Quiet Mon is staked to the $1 million Meadowlands Pace, Hoosier Cup, Windy City Pace, Breeders Crown, American-National and Matron.

$25,000 Berry’s Creek Elimination-Race 2
HN, PP, Horse, Driver, Trainer, Odds
1, 1, Cue The Paige, J. Campbell, N. Daley, 5-1
1A, 7, No Perfect Escape, J. Campbell, N. Daley, 5-1
2, 2, The Quiet Mon, A. Miller, J. Butenschoen, 7-5
3, 3, May June Character, G. Brennan, G. Sholty, 12-1
4, 4, Home Bed Advantage, P. Lachance, D. Mc Caffrey, 3-1
5, 5, Angry Dwarf, D. Miller, R. Schnittker, 10-1
6, 6, Southern Myles, B. Sears, R. Hans, 6-1
7, 8, Pop Z Pop, A. Miller, E. Miller, 8-1

$25,000 Berry’s Creek Elimination-Race 3
HN, PP, Horse, Driver, Trainer, Odds
1, 3, Allamerican Bomber, R. Pierce, N. Daley, 5-1
1A, 7, Isaac Newton, J. Campbell, N. Daley, 5-1
2, 1, Wearable Art, R. Pierce, P. Kleinhans, 2-1
3, 2, Spin Rate, D. Dube, L. Remmen, 3-1
4, 4, Papichulo, D. Dube, M. Ford, 12-1
5, 5, Lost In The West, D. Dube, R. Bendis, 8-1
6, 6, Artist’s View, G. Brennan, G. Sholty, 6-1
7, 8, Fresh Deck, G. Brennan, J. Holloway, 4-1