Rich Fisher

Trenton, NJ — When discussing his 3-year-old colt trotter Volume Eight, it’s hard to tell if Noel Daley is sitting at a poker table or digging in at home plate.

Either way, the trainer has been working with whatever comes his way.

“I’m just playing the cards I’m dealt,” Daley said as he prepares for Volume Eight’s first 2023 start Saturday (July 1) in a division of the W.N. Reynolds Memorial Stakes at The Meadowlands.

It’s hoped to be the first step on the road to August’s $1 million Hambletonian for last year’s Dan Patch Award winner for best freshman male trotter.

It’s a step Daley wanted to take a bit earlier, but horses can “throw you curveballs,” he said, and Volume Eight is no exception.

“He’s thrown us a bunch of curveballs along the way, right from the start,” Daley said, noting the colt’s delayed start to last year’s award-winning season because of a paddock injury. “But it worked out at the end.”

Volume Eight heads to Saturday’s race off qualifiers on June 14 at Magical Acres and June 24 at The Meadowlands. USTA/Ken Weingartner photo.

Volume Eight heads to Saturday’s race off qualifiers on June 14 at Magical Acres and June 24 at The Meadowlands. He finished second, timed in 1:56.2, in the first, and was third, timed in 1:54.4, in the most recent.

“It just took me a while to get him started,” Daley said. “He’s been going forward every week. Each time I’ve taken him, he’s been better, been healthier. I know I’m two weeks behind, but at least he’s heading in the right direction. For the last six weeks, everything has been good. We’re on track now.”

Daley had hoped the Hambo would be the horse’s fifth start this season, but it appears it will likely be his fourth.

“Some people probably think I’m trying to get fine, do it perfectly, but it’s not that,” he said. “I would have rather been there a bit earlier.”

Last year, Volume Eight made his debut on Sept. 1 and finished fifth in a division of the Kindergarten Classic Series. From there, the son of Chapter Seven-Lass A Rope won seven of eight races, including his final five to close the season.

“He started late last year, and it only took him a couple of starts to get going,” Daley said. “Yes, I wish the Hambo was a little later, but it is what it is. We’ll take each week as it comes.

“Everyone is in the same boat. Some of them are going (1):50 at the moment, they might not be as good by then, or they might get better. You don’t know. I’ve just got to worry about him and see how that fits in with everybody else.”

Volume Eight is in the first of the two Reynolds divisions, going for a purse of $35,400. He is one of six Hambletonian-eligible horses in the seven-horse field along with Winner’s Bet, Chezactic, Dahlquist Hanover, Upstaged and Air Power.

Winner’s Bet, last year’s William Wellwood Memorial winner, also is making his first start of the year. Air Power is 3-for-3 and coming off a victory in the New Jersey Sire Stakes championship in 1:50.4, the second-fastest trotting mile of the season by a 3-year-old.

Volume Eight will start from post six with driver Andy McCarthy and is the 6-5 morning-line favorite, followed by Air Power (Mattias Melander-Marcus Melander) at 9-5 from post seven and Winner’s Bet (Dexter Dunn-Domenico Cecere) at 9-2 from post one.

In the second division, five of six horses pursuing the $34,900 purse are Hambo eligible: Dire Straits, Oh Well, Tactical Approach, Celebrity Bambino and One Hundred Proof.

After winning the Mohawk Million and New Jersey Sire Stakes championship as a 2-year-old, Oh Well has finished second in all three races this year, including the NJSS championship when he trailed stablemate Air Power. He is the 9-5 favorite from post two with Tim Tetrick driving for Marcus Melander.

“The other division looks like it has more depth,” Daley said. “But Air Power has been very good. I don’t see us beating him in a (1):50 mile first start. As long as (Volume Eight) races good, gets home good, I’ll be happy with him.

“It’s one step at a time. Some of them don’t come back at all. But I’m happy with him now. We just have to keep taking our steps forward.”

Upcoming races for 3-year-old trotters at The Meadowlands include the July 15 Stanley Dancer Memorial and July 22 Tompkins-Geers Stakes ahead of the July 29 Hambletonian eliminations and the Aug. 5 Hambletonian final.

“I’ll race him this week, skip next week, race the following week, and then decide what I’ll do,” Daley said. “I don’t really want to go the next week. I can if I need to, but that would put me four weeks in a row, which I don’t want to do. So, if he’s good enough in the Dancer, he’ll skip the next week and go into the Hambo elims. That’s the plan.”

There also will be two $37,400 divisions of the Reynolds Memorial for 3-year-old female trotters Saturday at the Big M as well as the $158,140 Dave Brower Memorial for older male pacers, $142,260 Perfect Sting Mares Pace, $155,140 Crawford Farms Open Trot and $112,500 Six Pack Mares Trot.

Racing begins at 6:20 p.m. (EDT) at The Meadowlands. Free TrackMaster programs for the Big M can be found here.