Adios Draw sets the scene for final
MEADOW LANDS – The slots are filled.
All that remains for the 51st running of the Adios is the race.
That will take place at the Meadows Racetrack Saturday and most believe it’s a two-horse competition for the $400,000 Delvin Miller Pace for the Orchids.
Fear The Dragon, the champion of the North America Cup and Max Hempt, and Huntsville, the Meadowlands Pace winner, provide a matchup of two of the top 3-year-olds in the country.
Fear The Dragon, sired by Dragon Again and Armbro Cinnamon and trained by Brian Brown, will go off from the third post. Huntsville, a product of Somebeachsomewhere and Wild West Show and trained by Ray Schnittker, leaves at the No. 4 post.
Brown also trains another top 3-year-old in Downbytheseaside but kept him out of the Adios to rest.
“The plan was always to skip one of the races,” he said. “If we had entered (Downbytheseaside) in the Adios, he would have raced in seven out of eight straight weeks. That didn’t make any sense.”
Fear The Dragon, approaching $1 million in purses this year, and Huntsville, which has eight wins in 12 starts this season, got to select their posts, an advantage given for winning their respective races in Saturday’s elimination races.
This is one of the most power-packed lineups in Adios’ history and one of the rare times the top two ranked pacers in the country are in the Adios. Track announcer Roger Huston said scheduling is the problem.
“In 1976, Armbro Ranger and Keystone Ore were ranked 1 and 2 and raced in the Adios,” said Huston, who will call his 42nd Adios when the 11th race goes off at about 4 p.m. “We had three world records. First division was a world record, second division was a world record and the final equaled a world record. Back in ’76, there was probably half the stakes as there are today. The scheduling has gotten way out of hand and the fact they don’t have eliminations on the same day as the final … the stake races fall on top of one another.”
Huntsville, driven by Tim Tetrick, is the early 9-5 favorite. Fear The Dragon, with David Miller in the sulky, opened at 2-1.
“It’s so tight. Usually, the horse I make as the morning line favorite is the horse I pick,” said Huston. “Not this year. I’m making Huntsville the morning line favorite and I’m picking Fear The Dragon to win it. They are that close.”
Ron Burke, who runs the Meadows-based Burke Racing Stable, has three entries in the Adios: RJP, with Yannick Gingras; Miso Fast, with Matt Kakaley; and Eddard Hanover, whose driver had not been determined by the time of the draw. RJP leaves from the No. 1 post; Miso Fast the No. 7 and Eddard Hanover No. 5. Gingras drove Sunfire Blue Chip to the Adios title in 2013. Miso Fast, with Kakaley, defeated Fear The Dragon in an elimination race for the Max Hempt, but finished fourth in the final.
Burke Stables last won the Adios in 2007 with May June Character and George Brennan in the Sulky.
Dave Palone has Western Hill coming from the No. 6 post for trainer Tony Alagna, who is looking for back-to-back victories in this race. Brett Miller took Racing Hill across first for Alagna in last year’s Adios, crossing in 1:48.4.
Post time for the Adios card is noon.