Run Director (Bay colt, 3 by Kadabra-Keep The Spirit-Revenue S) Homebred

Owner: Thomas A. & Elizabeth C. Rankin, St. Catherines, Ontario Trainer: Benoit Baillargeon

• After just one start as a freshman, Run Director emerged as a star in the Ontario Sires Stakes program this season. The homebred won three Gold level events and came into his elimination fresh off a decisive score in the Gold Final at Woodbine at Mohawk Park. He also finished second to Met’s Hall in the Simcoe Stakes on September 1.

• Run Director finished a solid third at better than 17-1 in his Breeders Crown elimination, raced timed in 1:53.4 over a sloppy track.

• Trainer Ben Baillargeon: I was real pleased. He’s never raced against this type of horses. Like once, he was second in the Simcoe. In the Canadian Trotting Classic we got away last and were never in the race. He showed his guts (Saturday). That’s a hell of a mile, (1):53 over that track off a half in :57. I didn’t think he would get beat for second because usually he doesn’t get beat. But he got beat. Hopefully next week the trip works out. He’s been a nice horse all year. He likes to race. There is no quitting in him. He likes to go. He’s a good-feeling horse all the time.

• Benoit Baillargeon, 60, was born in St. Hubert, Quebec and resides in Guelph, Ontario. “Ben” Baillargeon, 60, is seeking his first Breeders Crown trophy. He has two second-place finishes and three third-place finishes in 10 finals.

• Baillargeon is one of the top money-winning trainers in Canada on an annual basis, including this year when he ranks among the top five. His horses have earned more than $1 million for 13 consecutive years and topped $2 million on five occasions during that span.

• Baillargeon’s first full season on Ontario’s Woodbine-Mohawk circuit came in 2001 and he finished fifth in the trainer standings. Prior to moving to Ontario, Baillargeon had a successful stable at Hippodrome de Montreal.

• Baillargeon was introduced to by his father Gaetan, who trained and drove Standardbreds. His older brother Mario is an accomplished driver, with nearly 7,750 wins.

• Sylvain Filion, 48, is from Angers, Quebec and resides in Milton, Ontario. Filion has driven two Breeders Crown winners, Goliath Bayama in the 2001 Open Pace and Wheeling N Dealin in the 2012 Three-Year-Old Trot.

• Filion has driven in more than 50,000 races with over 8,700 wins and $98 million in purses. The four-time winner of Canada’s top driver award lists Runnymede Lobell as the horse that changed his life. Filion was 18 in the summer of 1987 when he and the son of Nero out of Racy Heart learned their first racing lessons together in Montreal. Filion said he didn’t know at the time that the colt was something special. “I didn’t really realize then, but I knew he was very easy to drive, so that made it easy for me. You could feel he had a lot of power,” Filion said. Runnymede Lobell, owned by Filion’s father, Yves, of Saint-Andre-D’Argenteuil, QC and Norm Mondoux of Laval, QC, went on to win 31 of 48 career races, over $1.6 million and the 1988 North America Cup with Yves in the sulky and Sylvain as the trainer. It was the first NA Cup victory for a horse owned and trained by Quebecers. “It was just a great night,” Sylvain said of the ’88 NA Cup. “It was at Greenwood back then. We were all there, the family. It was just a great, great time.”

• Another great thing happened when Yves Filion was officially inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Runnymede Lobell not only got Sylvain’s driving career started and earned the family an NA Cup, Sylvain likes to remind his father of one other important fact. “I told him I was the only one that didn’t get beat with him. I won the qualifier,” Sylvain said, laughing. Though Runnymede Lobell was the first, he said other horses have had a tremendous impact on his life — most notably Supreme Jade, who gave him his first win in 1987 at Rideau Carleton; millionaire pacing mare Tricky Tooshie and his father’s $1.5 million-winning pacer Goliath Bayama, who was second to The Panderosa in the 1998 NA Cup. Yet, the driver said he is still looking for another great horse to come along. “I hope the horse that will really change my life is the next one,” he said. “I’m still looking for it.”

• For Thomas and Elizabeth Rankin their lone Breeders Crown win came in the 2001 Two Year Old Colt & Gelding Trot with Liberty Balance, who went wire-to-wire as the heavy favorite and went on to a $1 million career.

• Run Director’s sire Kadabra won this event in 2002 enroute to Trotter of the Year. He is Canada’s number one stallion and has sired six Breeders Crown winners, including two-time Crown champion and 2013 Horse of the Year Bee A Magician. He also scored with the longest shot in Breeders Crown history in 2008 when Kadealia lit up the board at 75-1 at the Meadowlands.

Evaluate (Bay Colt, 3 by Andover Hall-Blathin-Classic Photo) $25,000 Standardbred Horse Sale-Harrisburg Yearling

Owner: Stall TZ, Inc. (Stefan Melander) Vero Beach, Florida Trainer: Marcus Melander

• Evaluate served noticed when he took his mark of 1:51.4 in a Pennsylvania Sires Stakes at Pocono Downs back on May 26. He has gone on to be a steady check earner in major stakes with a fourth in the $500,000 Earl Beal, Jr. Memorial, a fifth in the $1 million Hambletonian Final, a third in the PASS Championship and a second to Met’s Hall in the Simcoe Stakes.

• Evaluate finished fourth from post six with Tim Tetrick driving in the first elimination won by Tactical Landing, flashing late trot and raced timed in 1:53.4 on a track rate good.

• Trainer Marcus Melander: He raced good. He was sitting last. I was very happy with him. He got a little sick after Lexington. We made the final and hopefully with a good draw we can get a good check. He won’t beat the best ones, but he can still get a good check. (His year) It’s been OK. He started out so good, so we had more expectations for him, but still he made like $270,000. It’s not bad. But he won early in (1):51 here in May (in a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes division) so maybe we had a little more high hopes, but he’s been there all the time. He was fifth in the Hambo final and raced very good; he’s been doing good races all year. It’s a good group of 3-year-olds. He’s been doing good.

• Trainer Marcus Melander, 26, is from and resides in New Egypt, NJ. Melander is a rising star, passing the million mark for the first time in 2017 and is capping off his first $2 million campaign. His stable website is MelanderStable.com.

• In only his third full season as a trainer, Marcus Melander enjoyed a memorable year in 2017 that culminated with Fourth Dimension being named the Dan Patch Award winner for best 2-year-old male trotter. Melander came to the U.S. from Sweden less than five years ago and worked for trainer Jimmy Takter before starting his own stable in late 2014. He is based in New Egypt, N.J., at a farm that was home previously to each the legendary Stanley Dancer and Continental Farms stables. Last year, Melander’s horses won 38 races and $1.31 million in purses, nearly tripling his earnings from the previous season. His victories in 2017 included the Valley Victory Stakes with Fourth Dimension, a division of the Stanley Dancer Memorial with Long Tom, and an elimination of the with Enterprise, who later was fourth-placed-third in the final.

• Melander: “I learned a lot when I worked for Jimmy Takter my first year here. Then I went on my own. You’ve got to put horses in the right condition, you have to figure out travel, there is always stuff you look at and maybe change. Last year with Enterprise for the Goodtimes we went back and forth (to Canada) and he was no good in the final because he had a problem with ulcers. Maybe we should have stayed up there. You’re always learning things. I’m only 26. I’ve got a lot to learn still. But I’m feeling more comfortable every season. Last year we had a really good year with both the 2- and 3- year-olds. But you always look to improve things. You think about things as you’re out there driving. With Long Tom and Enterprise, they started early very good and I think maybe I topped them a little too early. They raced great until the (Hambletonian) and after that they flattened out a little bit and we had some bad racing luck. That’s stuff you learn too. Maybe we won’t qualify as early. But it was a little different because Enterprise only made one start as a 2-year-old so you had to be going a little earlier. I’ve loved it here from the day I got here. This will be my fifth year here. I’m happy. My whole family is here and there are a lot of Swedes around, friends and stuff, so it’s good. I like the racing here. In Sweden it’s very good too, but it’s a little bit different here. I just like it here.”

• Evaluate is owned by Marcus Melander’s uncle Stefan Melander, a successful horseman, photographer and “yearling evaluator” who won the 2001 Hambletonian with Scarlet Knight, along with several major stakes in Europe.

• Andover Hall has four Breeders Crown siring credits: Donato Hanover (2006), Spider Blue Chip (2013), Cedar Dove (2014) and Creatine (2015).

Fiftydallarbill (Brown Colt, 3 by Swan For All-CR Dixie Chick-Royal Troubador) $16,000 Hoosier Sale Yearling

Owner: John Barnard, Miami, Florida Trainer: William Crone

• Fiftydallarbill is a $16,000 rags-to-riches story. The Indiana star romped to a 7-1 upset in the Breeders Crown Two Year Old Trot in 2017 @ Hoosier Park. He continued to be prominent in the Indiana Sires Stakes program this season and also ventured to Woodbine at Mohawk Park where he finished third in the $512,050 Canadian Trotting Classic. Recently, Fiftydallarbill was second (1:50.2) to Six Pack in a heat of the Kentucky Futurity and sixth in that final as a $62,000 supplement. Just five days later he won the $220,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Super Final in 1:54.2 on a sloppy track. He took his mark of 1:52.1 in an Earl Beal, Jr. Memorial consolation at Pocono Downs.

• Fiftydallarbill finished second to Six Pack in the second Breeders Crown elimination.

• Owner John Barnard: I was happy with the way he raced. I would have been happier if we had a little earlier cover and been able to bring him up a little sooner. But he raced really well. He had a tough time in Kentucky with all that heat and got really dehydrated the second heat (of the Futurity). He came back five days later and raced at Hoosier (in the Indiana Sire Stakes final) and raced a monster mile. That was a huge night. It was probably in the 30s, it was sleeting, it was cold, and the track was pretty hard that night. He continues to get better. He’s a real tough horse. He’s kind of incredible. I don’t know if any horse has come back with a five-day rest after racing two heats in 90 degrees, and the mile he raced at Hoosier was phenomenal.”

• “He has raced really well, but hasn’t had the wins to show for it. He’s been run into, he’s been interfered with in a couple of races where he raced really well and was able to catch up. The last time he raced in Canada he was covered, and then the cover broke in front of him and hurt him,” Barnard said. “I know how good this horse is. I want to give other people a chance to see what he’s capable of.”

• The owner does not consider himself superstitious, but when it comes to this trotter, he almost made a change before the colt ever made a start. Gamblers consider $50 bills to be bad luck. Barnard was keenly aware of that fact when he purchased Fiftydallarbill for $16,000 out of the Hoosier Classic sale in 2016. “Any gambler will tell you, $50 bills are unlucky. Gamblers never carry them. I almost changed this horse’s name from Fiftydallarbill because I thought it was unlucky,” he said. “It’s also unlucky to change the name of a horse sometimes, too. Every horse that I’ve ever changed a name, they haven’t done very well for me.” He kept the name and watched last season as the colt won seven of 17 starts, capturing two Indiana Sires Stakes finals and becoming eligible to the Super Final. However, on that night in mid-October, Fiftydallarbill, a narrow second choice in the race, made a break at the start from post 10. Dead last in the field, he would rally to finish fourth that night. Just as he took a shot in the Kentucky Futurity, Barnard hedged his bets on the Breeders Crown last fall.

• “He really hadn’t been trained to follow another horse to the gate. That was our mistake. That was not the horse’s fault. We should have probably thought about that,” he said. “He got up to the gate and had nowhere to go and didn’t know what to do, and ended up breaking because of it. But he was also able to come back and race like a monster in that race, which showed me so much. He probably showed me more than if he had won.” Fiftydallarbill would go on to win the $600,000 Breeders Crown for freshman trotting colts by a length and a quarter. Barnard took the risk, and Fiftydallarbill’s richly rewarded his connections.

• Bill Crone, 71, is from Harvard, Illinois and resides in Beecher, Illinois. Crone won a trophy in his first Breeders Crown start, with 2-year-old male trotter Fiftydallarbill in 2017. Crone enjoyed his first million-dollar-season last year, reaching $1.04 million in purses. He entered the Breeders Crown eliminations less than $9,000 from hitting $1 million again. For his career, Crone has 341 victories as a trainer and $4 million in purses.

• Brett Miller, 45, has won three Breeders Crown trophies, one in each of the past three years. In 2017, he won with Split The House in the Open Pace. He got his first in 2015 with Pure Country, who won the final for 2-year-old female pacers to cap a 10-for-10 campaign on her way to divisional Dan Patch Award honors. He won his second in 2016 with Racing Hill in the final for 3-year-old male pacers in a stakes record of 1:48.

• Miller started his career on the Ohio circuit, but eventually moved to the East Coast with the hopes of getting more opportunities to drive horses on the Grand Circuit.

• He has won nearly 7,900 races and earned $82 million in purses. Miller won the Meadowlands Racetrack driving title for the 2016-17 meet.

• Miller is from Columbus, Ohio, and followed his grandfathers and dad, Del S. Miller, into the sport. He participated in his first matinee race at the age of 14 at a fair, and won with a horse trained by his cousin, David Miller. In 1992, Miller got his first pari-mutuel win with a horse trained by his father. Tactical Landing (Bay Colt, 3 by Muscle Hill-Southwind Serena-Varenne) $800,000 Lexington-Selected Sale Yearling

Owner: The Tactical Landing Stable, Perrysburg, Ohio Trainer: Jimmy Takter

• Tactical Landing became the second-highest priced yearling in history when he was hammered down for $800,000 in 2016, yet struggled to find himself until Hall-of-Famer Jimmy Takter decided to take on this challenging project horse for his sophomore season. The colt soon began to blossom and with Takter in the bike he rallied to win his Hambletonian elimination in 1:52.1 and finished a solid third in the $1 million final. Tactical Landing has added a Kentucky Sires Stakes division in 1:51.4 and was second in that $250,000 final. He also dominated a Bluegrass division in 1:51.1 and took his mark of 1:50.2 in a heat of the Kentucky Futurity.

• Hall of Famer Brian Sears was handed the lines last Saturday and the heavily favored Tactical Landing dominated the first Breeders Crown elimination in 1:52.2 over a track rated good.

• Jimmy Takter: “He’s a good horse. The elimination he went in the Futurity was one of the best I ever sat behind. I was a little worried with this being the first time he raced on a five-eighths track, but Brian said he was like a lock. He’s got a hell of a set of lungs and he covers a lot of ground. He’s a fantastic horse. (On break in Futurity) I tried to catch up. I was stuck at the half; I had a horse in front of me that kind roadblocked me.”

• Brian Sears, 50, is from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and resides in Secaucus, NJ. Sears leads all active drivers in wins in the Breeders Crown, with 27, and is tied for third in the history of the series. Sears trails only John Campbell (48) and Ron Pierce (30). He is tied with Mike Lachance.

• His most recent Breeders Crown victory came in 2016 with Flanagan Memory in the Open Trot.

• Sears got his first Breeders Crown trophy with 3-year-old female trotter Stroke Play in 2003. He won a total of 19 trophies in the next six years. He won four Crowns in each 2004 and 2005, and three in each 2006, 2008 and 2009. He had two victories in 2007.

• In July 2017, Sears was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in Goshen, N.Y.

• Sears is a third generation horseman, following in the footsteps of his grandfather Gene and dad Jay. Both are in the Florida Harness Racing Hall of Fame.

• For his career, Sears has won more than 10,000 races and $188 million in purses. He got his 10,000th victory in August. He ranks 15th in North American history for wins among drivers and sixth in purses. He led the sport in earnings in 2005, with a then-record $15 million, and has finished among the top 10 in purses in 13 of the past 14 years.

• Sears has driven three Horse of the Year award winners --- Rocknroll Hanover in 2005, Muscle Hill in 2009 and Bee A Magician in 2013. He received the 2009 Driver of the Year Award from the U.S. Harness Writers Association and was the 1991 Rising Star Award recipient from the same organization.

• He is a three-time winner of the Hambletonian and is the only driver to win the Hambletonian and in the same year. He accomplished the feat twice, with Muscle Hill and Broadway Schooner in 2009 and with Royalty For Life and Bee A Magician in 2013.

• Muscle Hill, Broadway Schooner and Bee A Magician also were Breeders Crown winners for Sears. Muscle Hill, the 2009 Horse of the Year, has produced eight Breeders Crown champions, including the last two winners of this division, What The Hill in 2017 and Bar Hopping in 2016 for Jimmy Takter. Muscle Hill, a two-time Breeders Crown winner, won this in 2009, and is currently battling Cantab Hall is the sport’s leading trotting sire in 2018. Takter has won this event five times. Tactical Landing’s dam Southwind Serena gave his first Breeders Crown in 2007, upsetting at 50-1. Tactical Landing is a full brother to 2014 Breeders Crown champion and 2015 Hambletonian Oaks winner Mission Brief, 1:50.2 ($1,599,587).

• Jimmy Takter, 58, is from Norrkoping, Sweden and resides in East Windsor, NJ. Takter leads all trainers in Breeders Crown titles with 33. He won three trophies in 2017, with 3-year-old female trotter Ariana G, 2-year-old female trotter Manchego, and mare pacer Pure Country.

• He has won at least three Breeders Crown finals in each of the past six years. He has won at least one Crown in each of the past eight years.

• In 2015, Takter set the Breeders Crown record for most training wins in a year, with six. He won a record $2,074,487 that night and finished 1-2 an incredible FOUR times.

SIX PACK (Bay Colt, 3 by Muscle Mass-Pleasing Lady-Cantab Hall) $30,000 Lexington-Selected Sale Yearling

Owner: Ake Svanstedt, Inc., Wrightstown, NJ, Little E LLC (Jeff Gural), NY, NY, Stall Kalmar (Tomas Olofsson), Kalmar, Sweden, Lars Berg, Hirtshals, DE Trainer: Ake Svanstedt

• Six Pack rides into the Breeders Crown on a five-race winning streak and with a chance to seal divisional honors. He dominated the second elimination as the heavy favorite in 1:53.3 over a sloppy track.

• Ake Svanstedt: “He was good, but he is so lazy. He slows down and takes it easy and I must push him. If I relax, he can feel everything, and he takes his chance to be lazy. He can also feel when I’m serious, and then he is a different horse. He felt good and trained well after the Kentucky Futurity, so he’s a tough horse. He is a smart horse. He is a nice horse. He was in the detention barn and he was eating and drinking and sleeping like he was at home.”

• Six Pack bounced back from a traffic-trouble trip in his Hambletonian elimination to reel off four straight wins this Fall, including the , and the Kentucky Futurity in straight heats. He became the sport’s fastest sophomore trotter in history with a 1:49.1 world record in that final. He is the second leading money winner among all trotters in 2018 behind Crystal Fashion.

• Six Pack has risen from the New York Sires Stakes circuit to star status on the grand stage. He set a world record of 1:50 in a Stanley Dancer Memorial division on July 14, making him the fastest three-year-old trotting colt in history. The mile broke the previous world mark of 1:50.1 co-held by 2009 Hambletonian winner Muscle Hill and Donato Hanover. It tied Archangel and Svanstedt trainee Sebastian K for the second fastest trotting mile in Meadowlands history. It was just a fifth off the all-age track standard of 1:49.4 set by J L Cruze in 2015, and equaled by Svanstedt’s filly Plunge Blue Chip on Meadowlands Pace Night.

• Six Pack kicked off his sophomore season with four straight wins, including a Vernon Downs track record of 1:52.1 in the $223,673 Empire Breeders Classic Final on May 28. He also finished a close second from post nine in the $500,000 Earl Beal, Jr. Memorial at Pocono Downs on June 30.

• Six Pack capped off his freshman season in 2017 going wire-to-wire from post seven in the $225,000 New York Sires Stakes Final at Yonkers Raceway in 1:58.

• In addition to siring Six Pack, on Meadowlands Pace Night Muscle Mass sent out Plunge Blue Chip, who upset Manchego in a world record of 1:49.4 in a Del Miller Memorial elimination. Also trained and driven by Ake Svanstedt, Plunge Blue Chip became the fastest three-year-old trotter in history, while equaling the Meadowlands all-age track record.

• His breeder Brittany Farms are the second leading breeder in Breeders Crown history with 22 trophies and almost $10 million. Six Pack is the fourth foal from his Cantab Hall dam Pleasing Lady. His sire Muscle Mass is 0 for 4 in Breeders Crown Finals.

• Co-owner Jeff Gural is Chairman of Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment.

• Ake Svanstedt, 59, is seeking his first Breeders Crown win. He is 0 for 13 as a driver and 0 for 17 as a trainer.

• In 2017, Ake Svanstedt enjoyed one of the greatest days of his four years in America when he finished second and was placed first through a disqualification in the $1 million Hambletonian Final with Perfect Spirit. The result of that final is still under appeal. Svanstedt also won the John Cashman, Jr. Memorial with Resolve and the Duenna from post ten with Ice Attraction. That Muscle Hill filly also won the Sires Stakes Final and Kentucky Filly Futurity. Svanstedt’s fourth season as a trainer in the US was his best so far with 124 wins and $4,674,656.

• Svanstedt remained a dominant force in the trotting world in 2016 with Resolve, one of the sport’s top Open class trotters. After finishing second in Sweden’s Elitlopp, the five-year-old son of Muscle Hill shipped back to America and cruised past $1 million with major wins in the $200,000 Arthur J. Cutler Memorial, the $273,600 John Cashman Memorial, the $480,320 Maple Leaf Trot and set a world record of 2:23.4 for a mile and half in the $1 million International Trot. He also finished second in the $193,000 Crawford Farms Trot and $500,000 Breeders Crown. Svanstedt also advanced The Royal Harry and Maven’s Way to the $1 million Hambletonian Final and recorded his first $4 million season in the USA, putting his stable in the nation’s Top 5.

• Svanstedt sent three colts into the eliminations for the 2015 Hambletonian, Workout Wonder, Centurion ATM and Southwind Mozart, and although he didn’t make it to that final he did dominate the $75,000 Vincennes Trot from post ten with the favorite Resolve in 1:50.4. Jula Downton (Bay colt, 3 by Kadabra-Abbey Craig-Muscles Yankee) $30,000 Standardbred Horse Sale-Harrisburg Yearling

Owner: Jula Racing, Inc., (Karl-John Blank & Peter Weisberg), Delray Beach, Florida Trainer: Susanne Kerwood Driver: Jody Jamieson

2018 13 – 1-1-2 $99,693 1:54.3S Wbsb7/8 2017 09 – 1-0-1 $12,654 2:02.4F GeoD5/8 Life 22 – 2-1-3 $112,347 1:54.3S Wbsb7/8

• Jula Downton came into his Breeders Crown with comparatively modest credentials, yet showed a recent surge in form finishing a close second by a head to Run Director in an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold event and a distant third in the OSS Gold Final, both at Woodbine at Mohawk Park.

• Jula Downton finished third in the first elimination, race timed in 1:53.3 over a track rated good.

• Trainer Susanne Kerwood: It was a big surprise, that’s for sure. Breeders Crown is always tough I think. The owner really wanted to try him. I thought we were in maybe a little snug, but he raced super. He really raced very good. I’m happy with him. It was first-time Lasix on him and Jody drove him good. He did a great job with him.

• (On his year) He started off pretty good for me. He won an Ontario Sire Stakes Gold early in the year in (1):54 and a bit. He ran into a few little issues, some colt soreness, some steering problems, and we kind of had to iron that out. I’d say the last three or four starts he’s gotten better. We changed his shoeing on him a little bit, fiddled with him. He’s pretty strong. If you have to go long route, I think he can do it. He’s a big strong horse. I really think the best is yet to come for him; not this year but at 4 and 5. If you look at him, he’s not really developed yet. He’s still trying to figure out how to handle his body. We’ll just hope for some luck in the final. You never know. If you ain’t in it, you can’t win it. Anything can happen.

• The owner (Karl-Johan Blank) is a great guy. He loves horses, loves the game. He really deserves a good horse. (This will be Kerwood’s fifth Breeders Crown final. She also took care of 2016 Open Trot winner Flanagan Memory, trained by her boyfriend Rene Dion.) Flanagan Memory is one of my all-time favorite horses, on and off the racetrack. He just tried so hard. I’ve raced in a few (Breeders Crown finals) and picked up some checks here and there, but Flanagan was definitely the cherry on top. That was ‘wow.’ It was surreal.”

• Jody Jamieson is a three-time O’Brien Award winner as Canada’s top driver and was three-time runner up. Jamieson was also 2009 Harness Tracks of America Driver of the Year when he won the dash crown with 796 wins. He has represented Canada at the World Driving Championships five times and was twice crowned champion. Jamieson is a two-time North America Cup winner with Tell All and Up The Credit. Jamieson has won three Breeders Crowns with Charley Barley in 2006, and Frenchfrysnvinegar and Monkey On My Wheel in 2011.

• Jula Downton’s sire Kadabra won this event in 2002 en route to Trotter of the Year. He is Canada’s number one stallion and has sired six Breeders Crown winners, including two-time Crown champion and 2013 Horse of the Year Bee A Magician. He also scored with the longest shot in Breeders Crown history in 2008 when Kadealia lit up the board at 75-1 at the Meadowlands.

Crystal Fashion (Bay gelding, 3 by Cantab Hall-Window Willow-Tagliabue) $100,000 Standardbred Horse Sale-Harrisburg Yearling

Owner: Fashion Farms LLC (Jules Siegel), New Hope PA Trainer: Jim Campbell

• Going into the Breeders Crown, Crystal Fashion is the only trotter in 2018 to pass the $1 million mark this season. He set a world record of 1:50.1 winning his Hambletonian elimination. He has a big chance to capture divisional honors with a definitive Breeders Crown triumph.

• Crystal Fashion picked up where he left off as a freshman, maintaining consistency, and sparked by major wins in the $500,000 Earl Beal, Jr. Memorial at Pocono Downs, the $253,000 Pennsylvania Sires Stakes Final at Pocono Downs and the $512,050 Canadian Trotting Classic at Woodbine at Mohawk Park.

• His freshman highlights include winning a $73,000 Bluegrass division in 1:53.2 at The Red Mile and a Breeders Crown elimination in 1:54.3 at Hoosier Park. He broke and finished ninth in that final.

• Crystal Fashion finished fourth in the second elimination, race timed in 1:54 over a sloppy track.

• Trainer Jim Campbell: “I was happy with the way he raced. With the track conditions the way they were, Timmy (Tetrick) was just going to play it by ear and see how to race him. He thought it was best to race him the way he did and I totally agreed with him. It’s his first race back after going two heats and he seemed to come out of that OK. You don’t know how much it takes out of them until you race them back again. He seemed good and fresh (Saturday) and Timmy was very happy with him. We’ll get him ready for next week.”

• Crystal Fashion is the third foal out of the Tagliabue mare Window Willow, who is a sister to Lolique, 1:52.4 [$1,091,435]. His breeder Hanover Show Farms, is the all-time leading breeder in Breeders Crown history with 24 trophies and more that $16 million. His sire Cantab Hall has six Breeders Crowns winners. Cantab Hill dominated his freshman Breeders Crown in 2003.

• Jim Campbell, 56, has won four Breeders Crowns. He is the younger brother of Hall of Famer John Campbell, who retired in 2017 as the winningest driver in history, and is now the President and CEO of the Hambletonian Society. John drove a record six Hambletonian winners, and the Campbell brothers teamed up to win the 1995 edition with Tagliabue. Jim returned to harness racing in 2006 after a brief stint running a New Jersey shore pizza café, Jimmy C’s. He had previously ventured into real estate.

• In 2015, Campbell posted the 1,000th winner of his career. Campbell has trained many top horses in his career, including Run The Table, Tagliabue, Galleria and Broadway Hall. The outstanding pacer Run The Table won 14 times as a sophomore in 1987 and earned $904,022. The son of Landslide retired at the conclusion of the 1988 season with 20 lifetime victories and earnings of $1,171,053 to his credit.

• In 1995, Tagliabue, a three-year-old son of Super Bowl, had five wins and five seconds in 13 starts, banking $869,600. Tagliabue’s biggest moment came when he scored in 1:54.4 in the $1 million Hambletonian final. What made that moment even more special for Jim was that his brother, John, was in the sulky on that afternoon. Tagliabue also won a $117,550 division of the Zweig Memorial and was named as Three-Year-Old Colt Trotter of the Year in the post-season balloting.

• Galleria earned Dan Patch Awards in both 1998 and 1999 as the top female in her class. As a three-year-old in 1998, the daughter of Artsplace was in the money in each of her 15 season’s starts, while banking $925,132. Her biggest victories came in the $480,000 Breeders Crown final (in a world record time of 1:51), the $400,500 Mistletoe Shalee final, the $250,000 Breeders Filly Pace final, the $200,000 Miss New Jersey final (in a then world record of 1:50.1), and the $151,787 Shady Daisy Pace.

• Galleria got off to a late start during her four-year-old campaign in 1999, but came on strong at the end and easily captured her second straight Dan Patch Award. She was in the money in 13 of her 14 starts, registering five wins and earnings of $386,835. She captured the $275,000 Classic Distaff final; the $129,000 Roses Are Red final; and a $100,000 Mares Invitational Pace on Hambletonian Day at The Meadowlands (in 1:49.1, at the time the fastest mile ever by a female).

• The trotting colt Broadway Hall was a perfect nine-for-nine as a freshman in 2002 on his way to a Dan Patch Award. Among his victories was the Breeders Crown at Woodbine and the Kentucky Sire Stakes final at The Red Mile.

Met’s Hall (Bay colt, 3 by Cantab Hall-Met’s Inn-Mutineer) $132,000 Standardbred Horse Sale-Harrisburg Yearling

Owner: Stroy Inc. (Julie Miller & Natalia Story), Millstone Township, NJ, Andy Miller Stable, Millstone Township, NJ Trainer: Julie Miller

• Met’s Hall finished second to Fiftydallarbill is the 2017 Two Year old Colt & Gelding Trot. He set the pace and finished second to Tactical Landing in the first Breeders Crown elimination, race timed in 1:53.2 on a track rated good.

• Andy Miller: ‘He was good. He got a little tired, but I had to use him a little more than I wanted to early. But he dug in and finished strong. The other horse (Tactical Landing) just beat him. He’s had a great year and hopefully he can finish it off with a couple good races. (I admire) his grittiness. He’s had a lot of issues and he fights right through them and shows up every week. He’s shown up in all the big races and won a couple or been close. He’s tough. He’s been very good.”

• Despite being hindered by physical issues on his sophomore comeback trail, Met’s Hall finished a hard-charging second in the $1 million Hambletonian Final. “He was a bit of a challenge,” Julie Miller said. “We had to iron out some kinks on his road back. He was a little bit behind the curve, not starting as early as most of the others, but I couldn’t be any happier with how he is racing. He’s just fought through his issues and he loves to race.”

• “We really targeted the Hambletonian with him,” Miller said. “To get second, we were very pleased. And to race in the Zweig and hold off Six Pack and Manchego that last quarter, I was really proud of him. I don’t think he prefers to race on the front, but he can. I think he’s more of a grinder.”

• Met’s Hall was rated second in the 2018 Hambletonian Winterbook Top Ten came into this season with high expectations after winning five of 11 races last year and finishing second in the Breeders Crown for 2-year-old male trotters, but was plagued by soundness issues. Miller consulted with numerous veterinarians and revamped the colt’s training program to get him back on track. “I’m very fortunate,” Miller said. “I had three or four of the top vets in the country give me guidance. Andy and I kept talking about his training regimen. We put him in the (swimming) pool and changed up how we do things with a trotter. We had to try other things and it seemed to work.”

• Met’s Hall finished second in both his elimination and the final of the 2017 freshman Breeders Crown. This season his highlights include the $350,000 Zweig at Vernon Downs, the $130,271 Simcoe at Woodbine at Mohawk Park and a 1:51.2 career best in a $121,000 Bluegrass division at The Red Mile.

• His sire Cantab Hall has six Breeders crown winners. His Maryland breeder Winbak Farm is tied for fourth with eight Breeders Crowns and $4.8 million.

• Andy Miller, 50, has won five Breeders Crown trophies in his career. He got his first win in 2004 with 2-year-old female pacer Restive Hanover, who was trained by his brother, Erv. It also was Erv’s first victory in the Breeders Crown. • • In 2009, Miller teamed with his wife, trainer Julie Miller, to win a Breeders Crown with Lucky Jim in the Open Trot at the Meadowlands. Andy and Julie were married in 1996 and started their harness racing stable the same year.

• Miller, who grew up in an Amish community in Illinois, began driving at the age of 16 on the Illinois fairs circuit. He was a top driver in Chicago before moving to the East Coast in 2006.

• For his career, Miller has won more than 9,100 races (ranking 22nd in North American history) and earned more than $121 million in purses (ranking 14th in history). He got his 9,000th victory in June.

• He has twice represented the U.S. in the World Driving Championship, finishing fourth in 2005 and sixth in 2007.

• Miller missed six months of action in 2014 because of injuries (fractured vertebrae) suffered in a racing accident.

• Miller is wrapping up his second straight driving title at Freehold Raceway.

• Julie Miller was born in Iowa City, Iowa on November 20, 1972 and resides in Millstone Township, NJ. Miller won the 2009 with Lucky Jim. Her husband, Andy, drove Lucky Jim.

• Miller’s stable last year included millionaire trotter Devious Man and Yonkers Trot champion Top Flight Angel, who helped the Iowa native set her career high for purses with $4.67 million, a total that ranked fifth among all trainers in North America, while posting a 22-percent win rate.

Wolfgang (Bay colt, 3 by My MVP-Summer Savory-Mr Vic) $60,000 Lexington-Selected Sale Yearling

Owner: Brixton Medical (Charles Goodwin), Goran Falk, NJ; Hatfield Stables (Bud Hatfield), OH; Fair Island Farm Inc (Leah Cheverie & Arthur Zubrod III, KY Trainer: Jimmy Takter

• Wolfgang finished fifth in the second Breeders Crown elimination, raced timed in 1:55.1 over a sloppy track. He advanced to the final based with the highest career money earnings.

• Trainer Jimmy Takter: “Something is not right with him. I don’t know what happened to him. Going into the Hambletonian we thought he was really one of the contenders and then after that he’s just been going through the motions. He’s not the same horse. He’s a better horse than that. He should have been second.”

• Wolfgang emerged as the top contender from Jimmy Takter’s Hambletonian battalion this season despite only three starts in 2018. Looking to follow in the footsteps of 2016 Hambletonian champion Marion Marauder, Wolfgang kicked off his season with easy wins in his elimination and the $202,160 Goodtimes Final at Mohawk. Wolfgang faded to sixth as the heavy favorite in his Hambletonian elimination and failed to advance to the $1 million final.

• After missing a month of racing due to a procedure to remove a testicle, Wolfgang dominated division of the Stanley Dancer Memorial in a career best 1:51.2 on July 14.

• “We actually had to remove a testicle right after the Goodtimes,” said Takter. “He had a testicle that was bothering him for two months and I told (the owners) we had to do this to have a chance at Hambletonian. He had started kicking stalls and was very unhappy. So he had the surgery and I lost 10 days with him.”

• "He was very good in the Dancer. I thought he was tremendously impressive," said Gingras. "He missed a lot of time. Jimmy told me he was ready, but obviously he's not 100% fitness-wise. I couldn't have been any happier. He was strong finishing. It made me feel really, really good going into the Hambletonian. This horse is really good to drive, and I think he can race either way."

• Wolfgang’s freshman highlights included a second in the $250,000 Kentucky Sires Stakes Final at The Red Mile, a 1:55.3 upset in the $203,900 Matron Final at Dover Downs and a second in the $464,650 Valley Victory Final at the Meadowlands.

• Jimmy Takter, 58, is from Norrkoping, Sweden and resides in East Windsor, NJ. Takter leads all trainers in Breeders Crown titles with 33. He won three trophies in 2017, with 3-year-old female trotter Ariana G, 2-year-old female trotter Manchego, and mare pacer Pure Country.

• He has won at least three Breeders Crown finals in each of the past six years. He has won at least one Crown in each of the past eight years. The Takter-trained Father Patrick set the stakes record of 1:51.4 in 2014, one of six wins in this division for Team Takter.

• In 2015, Takter set the Breeders Crown record for most training wins in a year, with six. He won a record $2,074,487 that night and finished 1-2 an incredible FOUR times.

• Takter got his first Breeders Crown win in 1993 with 2-year-old filly trotter Gleam at Pompano Park. Takter drove Gleam, one of his two Crown wins as a driver. The other came with 2-year-old filly trotter Armbro Prowess in 1996.

• He has trained three Horse of the Year Award winners and all were Breeders Crown champions: Malabar Man, Moni Maker, and . Takter and Stanley Dancer are the only trainers with at least three different Horse of the Year winners.

• Takter has been named Trainer of the Year by the U.S. Harness Writers Association a record six times: 2016, 2015, 2014, 2010, 2000 and 1996.

• In 2012, Takter was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in Goshen, N.Y.

• Takter has won more than 2,100 races as a trainer and $128 million in purses, good for No. 2 among all trainers in history. He has finished in the top five for earnings 14 of the past 16 seasons and is second this year with $7.24 million.

• In addition, Takter has won more than 800 races as a driver, including the 2014 Hambletonian with Trixton, and $24 million in purses.