by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — Word Power picked up his first stakes win of the season last time out and hopes to make it two in a row to finish the campaign when he faces five foes in Saturday’s $126,000 Cleveland Classic for 3-year-old pacers at Northfield Park in Ohio.

Trained by Larry Remmen for owner Bradley Grant, Word Power won the $176,000 Windy City Pace on Nov. 15 at Maywood Park. The colt, second by a neck to Captaintreacherous in the Cane Pace and third in the Adios, has won seven of 17 starts and earned $372,284 this year.

“He deserves it,” Remmen said. “He’s missed a few by a small part, but that happens. I thought he was going to go by in the Cane, but it wasn’t meant to be. But at Maywood he was very good. He seems like he’s in good form right now.”

Maywood Park photo

Word Power won the Windy City Pace on Nov. 15.

Word Power will start the Cleveland Classic from post four with driver Scott Zeron, who was in the sulky for the Windy City Pace score, and is 4-1 on the morning line. Word Power prepped for the Cleveland Classic by winning a qualifier in 1:53.4 on Dec. 6 at the Meadowlands.

The remainder of the Cleveland Classic field includes stakes-winners Dedi’s Dragon and Twilight Bonfire along with Apprentice Hanover, Good Day Mate and Only The Lonely.

Twilight Bonfire, who won the Reynolds Stakes and was second in the North America Cup and Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship, will start from post two with driver Tony Hall and is the 5-2 morning line favorite. Dedi’s Dragon, who won the Monument Circle and will start from post three with driver Dave Palone, is the 3-1 second choice.

Apprentice Hanover also is owned by Grant.

“It’s pretty competitive for a six-horse field,” Remmen said. “It’s sure not going to be a walk in the park. Anyone with the right luck can win that race.”

Word Power, a son of stallion Western Ideal out of the mare Lush Limbaugh, sold for $13,000 at the 2011 Lexington Selected Sale. He is a three-quarter brother to stakes-winner Yankee Lariat and his dam is a three-quarter sister to $2 million-earner Camtastic.

Unraced at age 2 because of health issues, Word Power has earned a check in all but three races this year. He was seventh in the New Jersey Classic and eighth in the Messenger Stakes. (His other miss came when he made an interference break in his elimination of the Little Brown Jug.)

“I was disappointed with the New Jersey Classic and Messenger, but every other race he showed up,” Remmen said. “After this race we’ll give him some time off and decide on the plans for next year.”

A $10,000 guaranteed Pick-4 has been added to Saturday’s card. The Pick-4 begins in the eighth race and will conclude with the Cleveland Classic. Post time is 6:30 p.m. for the night’s first race.

Following is the Cleveland Classic field with listed drivers and trainers (and morning line odds): 1. Only The Lonely, Aaron Merriman, Nick Surick (10-1); 2. Twilight Bonfire, Tony Hall, Rich Gillock (5-2); 3. Dedi’s Dragon, Dave Palone, Ron Burke (3-1); 4. Word Power, Scott Zeron, Larry Remmen (4-1); 5. Apprentice Hanover, Jody Jamieson, Ben Wallace (6-1); 6. Good Day Mate, Brett Miller, Burke (12-1).