Maven has
been the darling of the harness racing press and a hefty chunk of the sport’s fan
base for the past few months. She’s taken the crown from Foiled Again, who held
that distinction for a couple of years. The six-year-old daughter of
Glidemaster—the only top tier trotter that sire has produced in NA—only won
four races during 2014, and only one of those was a grade one stakes race. She
set a track record in winning the Muscle Hill at Vernon Downs in November. Her
other three wins came in the Miami Valley Distaff in mid-May, a preferred trot
at Pocono in August and the BC elimination at the Meadowlands.
Maven
finished out in three legs of the Miss Versatility Series, which she won in
2013, and was third in the final at Delaware, which division champ Classic
Martine won. She earned $333,027 between her dozen starts in NA and a pair in
Europe. So what’s all the fuss about? Why is Maven the flame of the
Twittersphere and the horse harness scribes have elevated to the top of the
pile? Her pedestrian numbers during the past year scream journeyman in a
slump—not superstar. Racing in Europe adds some panache to her resume, but she
has one third place finish to show for five European starts last season and
this.
Maven’s
popularity obviously extends to the sales ring as she brought a record $750,000
bid from Herb Liverman at Harrisburg in November. And he already owned a piece
of rival Bee A Magician. One of Maven’s problems is that Liverman is determined
not to have the pair go head to head. That means Maven is stuck in Europe, or
destined to take on the boys back home. Neither of those scenarios looks
promising at the moment.
Contrast
Maven’s overseas performance with the much less celebrated Arch Madness, who
made eight starts in Europe during 2011, 2012 and 2013. He won two of them, the
2011 Oslo Grand Prix and a heat of the Elitlop. He finished second in the latter
twice and was third three times in European races. Arch got some publicity for
all of this, particularly in Canada, but Maven seems to be leaving him in the
PR dust despite a much shorter record of accomplishment.
Something
similar has been happening on the pacing side. Eleven-year-old Foiled Again is
still the most popular pacer in NA. He was second to Sweet Lou in division
earnings in 2014, thanks to making the board in 19 of 26 starts, but he had no
grade one stakes wins. The Quillen was his only significant victory, and that
one isn’t very important at this point. He won four legs of the Levy, then went
winless for the season except for his Quillen elimination and final. In 2013 he
was wildly popular and a candidate for Pacer of the Year, despite suffering 18
losses.
Foiled’s
hook is excellence over many years, consistency and the money record for pacers
that he holds. Maven was good at two and three, winning 15 times and earning
more than $900,000, but she took a back seat to Check Me Out until the late
fall of her sophomore campaign. She was the standout in her division at four,
winning 10 times and banking more than a half million dollars, and had an off
year in 2014. This exaltation on the part of fans and the press is curious.
Some of it has to do with her newsworthy passage from Jonas Czernyson to Ron
Burke to Jimmy Takter. And participating today in the premier race in France
for last year’s trainer and driver of the year doesn’t hurt. But with each
non-competitive loss on the Continent, we should get less cheerleading and more
questions about why she has been placed on a pedestal.
Joe
FitzGerald
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