Aug 4, 2016 2 min read

Southwind Frank, trained and co-owned by Ron and Sylvia Burke of Fredericktown, is the 4-5 favorite in his elimination division of the $1 million Hambletonian for 3 year-old trotters, to be held Saturday at The Meadowlands in New Jersey.

The race will be televised live by CBS Sports Network (4-5:30 p.m.). Southwind Frank will start from post 5 in the second of two eliminations while Bar Hopping has the rail in the other elimination. The top five finishers in each elimination advance to the final later in the afternoon.

Southwind Frank will have regular driver Yannick Gingras in the sulky.

The season-long favorite to win the Hambletonian, Southwind Frank enters the event off a 1:52.1 victory at The Meadowlands Saturday night in the Reynolds Memorial Stakes. It was Southwind Frank’s fifth win in six starts this season and his 16th in 18 lifetime races. He is owned by the Southwind Frank Partners, a group that includes Ron and Sylvia Burke, and has earned $1.2 million in his career.

“I was really happy with him,” said Burke. “We changed his bridle the second trip, put a blinker hood on and I thought he was more aggressive, which is what we were going for. Soundnesswise, he was perfect. … I think he should be super sharp this week.”

Burke is the leading trainer in harness racing in North America with $10.2 million in purses won and 493 wins.

In 2015, Southwind Frank received both the U.S.’s Dan Patch and Canada’s O’Brien awards for best 2-year-old male trotter.

Southwind Frank gives Burke a top Hambletonian contender for the second consecutive year. Last year, filly Mission Brief won her elimination and finished second to Pinkman in the final.

Burke also will have Make Or Miss in the Hambletonian.