by Ellen Harvey, Harness Racing Communications
East Rutherford, NJ — Walner (Tim Tetrick) was the easiest kind of winner in the $600,000 Breeders Crown for 2-year-old trotting colts and geldings in a track and stakes record 1:53 by 4-1/2 lengths on Saturday (Oct. 29) at The Meadowlands.
The record had been 1:53.2, shared by Pinkman (2014) and Manofmanymissions (2010).
Walner (Chapter Seven-Random Destiny) is trained by Linda Toscano and owned by Ken Jacobs. Moonshiner Hanover (Scott Zeron) was second and Sortie (Andy McCarthy) was third.
The early pace was set by Moonshiner Hanover who got to the :28 first quarter alone on the lead, after an early break by Giveitgasandgo (Corey Callahan) left the second spot temporarily empty.
Walner was up front to take away the lead at the three-eighths, and he was in front at the :57 half. Jake (Sylvain Filion) tried to overtake the leader from fifth and got up to third at the 1:26 three-quarters, with Moosnhiner Hanover second inside him along the rail.
When the field straightened for home, Walner got mild urging from Tetrick and the two put distance between themselves and the field for an unpressured win in record time.
“He can do it either way,” said Tetrick. “He’s got a ton of ability and he’s very special. I just wanted to get around there safe and make sure I didn’t mess it up. I knew I had a good horse, so if I got him in there with decent fractions I knew he would be hard to catch.”
“I was nervous this time because I expect big things from this colt,” said trainer Linda Toscano. “He’s a good colt, he has a great attitude. He loves his job.”
Chris Beaver, the co-owner and trainer of Moonshiner Hanover was thrilled with his second place finish.
“That was like a win.” Beaver said. “That was great. He’d been getting on the right line down the stretch a little bit and I’ve been trying to rig him off that. I put a softer head pole outside and a line pole inside and a Murphy inside to try to rig him off the right line a little bit. He’s staked to the Valley Victory so if he’s good we’ll head up there.”
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