Market Share will try to win the upcoming Breeders Crown for three-year-old male trotters at Woodbine Racetrack, thereby duplicating the accomplishment of stablemate Chapter Seven a year ago.
Chapter Seven, meanwhile, will try to win the upcoming Breeders Crown for older trotters, thereby accomplishing something not done in nearly two decades.
Not since Pine Chip in 1993-94 has a male trotter won a Breeders Crown trophy at both ages three and four. Chapter Seven, who is ranked No. 1 in harness racing’s current Top 10 poll, can join Pine Chip, Mack Lobell (1987-88) and Sugarcane Hanover (1986-87) in repeating as a champion at age four.
Eliminations this year are unnecessary for the older male trotters, so Chapter Seven advances with Arch Madness, Commander Crowe, Daylon Magician, Hot Shot Blue Chip, and Mister Herbie to the Oct. 27 Breeders Crown final, with a $600,000 purse, at Woodbine Racetrack.
“Chapter Seven is a good horse,” said trainer Linda Toscano, who also conditions Market Share. “I feel like it’s been said over and over again, but he amazes me. Take nothing away from the horses he’s racing against, they are good horses. Arch Madness is a great horse in his own right. The fact that a four-year-old can go with them and beat them; I’m in awe of this horse.”
Driven this season by Tim Tetrick, Chapter Seven has won six of eight races this year and finished second in the other two starts while earning $627,700 for owners Richard Gutnick, Southwind Farm and J And T Silva Stables LLC. In his career, the son of Windsongs Legacy-La Riviera Lindy has won 18 of 26 starts and earned $1.5 million.
His victories this season include the Nat Ray Invitational at the Meadowlands, where he won in 1:50.1 to equal the fastest mile ever trotted on a mile track. In his most recent outing, Oct. 7 at Lexington’s Red Mile, Chapter Seven won the $131,200 Allerage Farms Trot by two lengths over Mister Herbie in 1:50.2. He also won the Titan Cup and Titan Cup prep with 1:50.4 miles.
Chapter Seven’s four sub-1:51 winning miles is a record for trotters.
Market Share will need to race his way into the $555,000 Breeders Crown final for three-year-old male trotters.
A field of 15 horses was divided into two eliminations, to be contested Saturday at Woodbine, with Market Share starting from post four in the eight-horse division. Joining him are Guccio, Appomattox, Archangel, Intimidate, Knows Nothing, My MVP and Another Amaretto.
The other elim features Modern Family, Mr Chicago, Lightning Storm, Little Brown Fox, Prestidigitator, Solvato and Stormin Normand. The top five finishers from each division advance to the final.
Market Share won a late closer by 3-1/2 lengths over Prayer Session in 1:50.3 in his most recent start on Oct. 6 at The Red Mile.
“I was amazed by it,” Toscano said of the colt’s performance. “Not necessarily that he won, but at the time and the way he did it. I didn’t think he had that kind of a mile in him, so I was real tickled with him.
“He likes this time of year, he’s fresh this time of year, he seems to be not too bothered by the stress of an entire season; I’m hoping he’s a fresh horse going into the Breeders Crown.”
A son of Revenue S-Classical Flirt, Market Share has won eight of 16 races this year and $1,752,056. He has 13 career victories in 21 starts, with earnings of $1,788,306 million. He is owned by Gutnick, TLP Stable and William Augustine.
Since finishing third in the Yonkers Trot on July 7, Market Share has won five of eight races and finished no worse than second in the other three. During that span, Market Share and Tetrick won the $1.5 million Hambletonian, the $1 million Canadian Trotting Classic and the $350,000 Zweig Memorial and finished second in the $500,000 Colonial Trot.
“He’s been such an incredibly nice story this year that I’m hoping it continues,” said Toscano, who in addition to winning the Breeders Crown last year with Chapter Seven captured a trophy with Molly Can Do It in the 2002 Mare Pace. “It’s a classic example of why you give every horse a chance and what can happen when a horse gets brave.
“This horse was a nice horse and he’s turned into a real good horse. If I knew (how) I would do it to all of them. I think sometimes it’s just a matter of them getting good trips and having everything work out. After that, they can almost start making their own trips. And then they get respect, and then they get confidence and it becomes something that turns into a real good thing.”
Market Share’s start at The Red Mile was his only activity since winning the Canadian Trotting Classic on Sept. 15 at Mohawk Racetrack.
Market Share, who began his campaign in April, was not eligible to the Kentucky Futurity, which was Oct. 7 at The Red Mile and contested in heats.
“If we were eligible to the Kentucky Futurity, we would have been in it, but since we weren’t we decided to use that as a little bit of a respite for him,” Toscano said. “I’ll let you know in a couple weeks if it was the right decision.”
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.