Dewey and Somebeachsomewhere Top Harness Season
On the Board In Every Heat, Trotter, Pacer Also Top Ten In Earnings
Oct 15, 2008
With Breeders' Crown championship races ahead of them, Deweycheatumnhowe, trotter supreme, and Somebeachsomewhere, pacing's best, lead their divisions with 13 starts and 11 wins and 11 wins from 12 starts, respectively.
Harness Racing's North American-Based Leaders This Season:
Starts, Wins, Place, Show, and Earnings --
- No. 1 -- Deweycheatumnhowe (3-year-old trot colt)
- ----- 13-----11-----1-----1-----$2,148,987
- No. 2 -- Somebeachsomewhere (3-year-old pace colt)
- ----- 12-----11-----1-----0-----$1,750,003
- No. 3 -- Art Official (3pc)
- ----- 20-----13-----4-----1-----$1,502,395
- No. 4 -- Mister Big (5ph--horse-----an individual over 4 years of age is a horse, stallion, gelding, mare, or broodmare)
- ----- 11-------9-----2-----0-----$1,355,432
- No. 5 -- Badlands Nitro (3pc)
- ----- 14-------9-----3-----1-----$1,287,184
- No. 6 -- Artistic Fella (5ph)
- ----- 14-------5-----7-----1--------$937,580
- No. 7 -- Lanern Kronos (3tf)
- ----- 15-----12-----2-----0--------$897,664
- No. 8 -- Crazed (3tc)
- ----- 11-------6-----2-----2--------$881,550
- No. 9 -- My Little Dragon (5pm)
- ----- 22-----10-----4-----5--------$817,567
- No.10 -- Celebrity Secret (3tc)
- -----17--------6-----6-----0--------$815,180
Best Picks in The Standardbred Poll:
The Top Ten Polled Harness Racers List Looks Similar --
- Deweycheatumnhowe
- Somebeachsomewhere
- Mister Big
- Art Official
- Crazed
- Lantern Kronos
- Shadow Play
- Artistic Fella
- Badlands Nitro
- My Little Dragon
The Top Ten rated Standardbred performers for the week (October 8 above) is the vote of the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown Poll computed by Harness Racing Communications.
Leading Times of Trotters This Season
One Mile Track ------------------------------------------------------- Five-Eighths Mile Track
- Deweycheatumnhowe (males, 3 years old) ----- 1:50.4 ----- Crazed ----- 1:53.2
- Lantern Kronos (females, 3 years old) ----- 1:52.3 ------------ Saorse ----- 1:54.3
Half-Mile Track
- Holiday Credit ----- 1:56.3
- Classic Lane ----- 1:55.3
Leading Times of Pacers This Season
One Mile Track -------------------------------------------------------- Five-Eighths Mile Track
- Somebeachsomewhere ----- 1:46.4 ---------------------------- Shadow Play ----- 1:48.2
- Happy Dreams ----- 1:49.2 ----------------------------------------- Native Bride ----- 1:50.1
Half-Mile Track
- Somebeachsomewhere ----- 1:49.2
- Chancey Lady ----- 1:52.2
Where Will Dewey and Somebeach Go Next?
Dewey last raced in the Kentucky Futurity elimination heats during which he took a two out of three heat spectacular over Celebrity Secret, while Somebeach raced splits with Art Official in their separate Bluegrass divisions in the Tattersalls. Both races went on October 4 at The Red Mile in Lexington, Kentucky.
Somebeachsomewhere's trainer-owner Brent MacGrath is pointing his superstar to the Messenger, the final leg of pacing's Triple Crown, at Yonkers, and to the Breeders Crown at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, where seasonal champs make their last statement before Horse of the Year selections in Standardbred circles are put together.
Art Official, the only pacer to clip Somebeachsomewhere this season, will surely get HOY votes. Art Official has won elim heats in the year's biggest competitions and pushed Somebeachsomewhere more than once.
Most Standardbred observers, however, think Somebeach is on a level of his own. "I can't fault this horse ever," says his driver, Paul MacDonell (The Horseman and Fair World, October 8, 2008, page 63). "He's a champion -- one of the best ever."
Sam Stathis, part owner of Celebrity Secret, who beat Dewey in the second heat of the Kentucky Futurity, but lost the final, will tell anyone that Dewey is also a class act. After the Futurity loss, he gave this generous statement: "Dewey's a special animal and there's no shame in losing or being second to a horse like that."
Ray Schnittker, trainer-driver of Deweycheatumnhowe, says his champ has just the Breeders Crown left on his schedule.
