Hambletonian Post Positions Drawn

Twenty-four horses entered for the Hambletonian this year necessitating three elimination divisions to be run. Here is the post position drawn for the three eliminations, plus the initial driver listed. You will see drivers with more than one drive; they will choose their drives tomorrow.

1st elimination
1-Take My Picture - Gregory
2-On The Tab – D. Miller
3-Temple Of Doom – D. Miller
4-Pretty Boy Lindy T. Tetrick
5-Cassis-T Tetrick
6-Boztheman- Sears
7-Arriba Amigo- Ritchie
8-Wishing Stone- Campbell

2nd elimination
1-Mystery Photo- A. Miller
2-Holiday Road- Sears
3-Coco Lindy-T Tetrick
4-Break The Bank K- Palone
5-Lucky Chucky- Campbell
6-Senor Glide-Dube
7-He's A Demon- Jamieson
8-Plan B In HD-Campbell

3rd elimination
1-Muscle Massive- Pierce
2-Winning Fireworks- Campbell
3-Perseverando- TBA
4-Pilgrims Taj- M. Lachance
5-Pilgrims Chuckie- M. Lachance
6-Flex The Muscle- Schnittker
7-Hard Livin- Gingras
8-RC Gallent Image- Brennan

Clearly the second elimination will be the most anticipated of the three with Holiday Road and Lucky Chucky meeting once again. Odds are one of these two will be standing in the winner’s circle on August 7 so with the elimination winner getting to chose their post position in the final, the race may be over after post positions are drawn for the final.

Once again, the Hambletonian is a perfect example of setting the stakes conditions for the owners instead of the public who keep the business going. Rather than putting on two divisions of twelve horses; something gamblers would relish and support, we find ourselves with three divisions of eight horses, praying no one scratches out and makes these races totally unplayable. Pretend these were not Hambletonian eliminations and what would we be doing? Lamenting the fact the Meadowlands has three races of short fields.

I recognize owners want to be on the gate when they pay to get in, but sooner or later, we need to learn we are putting the show for the gamblers and fans, not the owners. Hopefully they will learn this before the Hambletonian becomes a $250,000 race again.

In other news, as reported by harnessracing.com , Bulletproof Enterprises and related entities are once again allowed to enter races in New Jersey under a settlement with the NJRC.