“It’s a big race, but all in all it’s just another race. That’s how I have to look at it. You can’t really drive any differently. You’re not going to do anything unusual. You can’t change things up.”
Trace Tetrick is ready to make his Breeders Crown debut Friday night at the Meadowlands, but the 28-year-old driver is looking to treat the occasion like any other race.
Tetrick drives Colors A Virgin in the second of two $25,000 Breeders Crown eliminations for three-year-old female pacers on Friday. Colors A Virgin, whose connections paid $62,500 to supplement to the event, starts from post two and is the 8-5 morning line favourite in the seven-horse field.
The top five finishers from each elimination advance to the $593,750 Breeders Crown Final, which will be contested Nov. 21 at the Big M.
“It will be exciting,” said Tetrick, who was Hoosier Park’s leading driver in 2012 and sits atop the standings again this season. “I know she’ll do her job and as long as I do mine I think we’ll have a good showing.
There is no reason to change. Since getting behind Colors A Virgin in June, Tetrick and the filly have teamed for 12 wins and a second-place finish in 13 starts.
Along the way, Colors A Virgin won the Jugette at the Delaware County Fair in Ohio, where trainer Brian Brown is based, as well as the Nadia Lobell Stakes and Indiana Sire Stakes Super Final, both at Hoosier Park.
“At first she was a little shaky, but she’s matured a lot and only gotten better every week,” Tetrick said. “She’s stayed very consistent all summer. She hasn’t had to do a whole lot of shipping. She’s raced mainly in Indiana and when she raced in the Jugette she didn’t need to get on a trailer because Brian trains right there in Delaware.
“I think a small thing like that probably helps in the end.”
Colors A Virgin is a daughter of Always A Virgin - Full Color, bred and owned by Bruce Trogdon’s Emerald Highlands Farm. She has won 17 of 25 career races and earned $684,322.
Her Breeders Crown elimination also includes Weeper, Uffizi Hanover, Sandbetweenurtoes, and Precocious Beauty.
Weeper, who has earned $424,561 this year for trainer Kelly O’Donnell and owners Joe and Joann Thomson’s Bay Pond Racing Stable, enters the Breeders Crown off a win in the Matron Stakes. The daughter of Allamerican Native-Pleasant Yet Bad has won eight of 15 starts this season.
Multiple-stakes-winner Uffizi Hanover, a Jimmy Takter-trained daughter of Well Said-Up Front Dragonfly owned by Al Libfeld, Marvin Katz and Sam Goldband, won last year’s Breeders Crown for two-year-old female pacers. The last filly pacer to capture Breeders Crown trophies at ages two and three was My Little Dragon in 2005 and 2006.
Sandbetweenurtoes (Somebeachsomewhere-Als Girl) has won eight of 10 races this year, including the Mistletoe Shalee at the Meadowlands in July, for trainer Larry Remmen and owner Brad Grant. Precocious Beauty, a daughter of Art Major-Precious Beauty trained by Gregg McNair for owner Jim Avritt Sr., received the 2013 Dan Patch and O'Brien Awards for best two-year-old female pacer.
“I know it’s a tough group, but that filly of mine has been holding her own all summer,” Tetrick said. “Everything we’ve asked of her, she’s done.”
Tetrick hopes she can do it again the next two weekends in the Breeders Crown. Of course, the Tetrick name is no stranger to Breeders Crown success. Tetrick’s older brother Tim has won 13 trophies in the championship series.
“I feel very fortunate for being in the Midwest to get a ride like this,” said Tetrick, who has won 354 races and established a career high with $4.56 million in purses this season. “She’s come from here and I’ve been able to stay with her and go to a show like this.
“You’ve got to be in them to win them.”
Sayitall BB, a third supplemental entry to the Breeders Crown for three-year-old female pacers, is the 2-1 morning line favourite in the first of the two eliminations. A daughter of Tell All-Challo B B, she is trained by Ron Burke and owned by Burke Racing and Weaver Bruscemi LLC.
She has won three consecutive starts since returning from a summer respite.
To view the entries for Friday's Breeders Crown elimination-packed card, click the following link: Friday Entries - Meadowlands Racetrack
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.
I said a few years ago that
I said a few years ago that it would only be a matter of time before Trace Tetrick becomes a regular at the Big M. I was very happy to see him win the Jugette as I feel it will propel him to the big leagues. In my opinion he is a very good driver and I hope to see him become a regular at the Meadowlands, which in my opinion has the best of the best when it comes to drivers.
I hope to see Trace do well in the Breeders Crown and wish him the best.