by Bob Heyden

Let’s take a look at the great day that was on Saturday (Aug. 2) where the 100th Hambletonian was the main focus.

1. Muscle Hill, now 19, was on site at The Meadowlands to see his Hambletonian mark of 1:50.1 lowered by one fifth.

2. Hambletonian champ Nordic Catcher S has Six Pack on one side and Somebeachsomewhere on the pacing side. Unusual certainly, but, Six Pack was the fastest ever trotter to be going to stud (1:49.1), coupled with a sire SBSW, who also retired and went to stud as the fastest pacer (1:46.4).

3. Five fillies represented Muscle Hill in this year’s Hambletonian Oaks. His 22 sons and daughters on the card were five shy of his own all-time Meadowlands record of 27 set in 2019.

4. One length is not the loneliest number. For the first time in the 100-year history of the Hambletonian, the margin of victory has been the exact same for three straight editions, one length. In 2023, it was Tactical Approach that won by a length over Oh Well, and in 2024 in the pouring rain, Karl won over Highland Kismet by the same distance. If that wasn’t enough, this year’s Oaks was also decided by a length, when Conversano beat Walspea. The last time both features had the same margin was one length again in 2018 with Atlanta and Manchego. One exact length is far and away the most common in Meadowlands Hambletonian history as it happened nine times: Duenna (1983), Malabar Man (1997), Amigo Hall (2003), Windsong’s Legacy (2004), Atlanta (2018), Ramona Hill (2020), and the past three editions.

5. The mark of 1:50, the Oaks record set by Manchego in 2018 is now the same mark of 1:50 set by Nordic Catcher S in the Hambletonian.

6. Female trainers had not captured a Triple Crown event entering 2009. Currently, they have taken home 17 Triple Crown events in the last 16 years, with the 17th being Nancy Takter and Captain Optimistic in the 2025 Cane Pace, her third in this Triple Crown leg which was first raced in 1955.

7. Nordic Catcher S is now the third horse this century to win both the Hambletonian elim and final and pay double digits both times: $23.80 and $11.20, respectively. Previously Vivid Photo did it in 2005 ($19.80 and $16.40) as did Chip Chip Hooray three years prior in 2002 ($16 and $12.60).

8. Swedish trainers took down $950,000 — the first four checks — in the Hambletonian: Svanstedt was first and fourth and Marcus Melander was second and third. This is not unprecedented in a major race, as in the 2004 Meadowlands Pace, New Zealanders ruled as Mark Harder was first and fourth, Brett Pelling was second, and Chris Ryder finished third.

9. Dexter getting up in the final step in the Cane with Captain Optimistic gave him the first three Triple Crown races of 2025.

10. The 2025 Hambletonian was the 43rd straight at $1 million or more, a horse racing all-time best. It was the eighth time in that stretch that a trainer/driver took down the Hambletonian and a majority, six of eight or 75 per cent, were past their 50th birthday: Stanley Dancer (56) in 1983, Roger Hammer (59) in 2005, Ray Schnittker (50) in 2008, and Ake was 58 in 2017, 62 in 2021, and 66 in 2025. The other two trainer/drivers were 38-year-old Trond Smedshammer in 2004 and 43-year-old Stefan Melander in 2001.

11. Eight of the 16 races went to the favorite on Hambletonian Day 2025, and post 6 won seven of the 16 including a pick-3 all by itself.

12. Did a Hambletonian Day/Horse of the Year jinx happen Saturday when reigning HOY Twin B Joe Fresh got beat? It’s happened before to two future HOYs when in 2004, Rainbow Blue suffered her lone defeat of the season going off-stride in the then Mistletoe Shalee, before being crowned best of the season, and in 2005, American Ideal buzzed by Rocknroll Hanover, the 2005 HOY, and set a new 1:48.1 3-year-old colt pacers track record in the process. It happened on Hambletonian Day.