(Muscle Hill – Chapter Too – Chapter Seven)

From seven starts as a 2-year-old, Miss Belmar could not find the winner’s circle. At first, she

displayed little from her two races, finishing seventh on debut by 11 lengths and well beaten in

the $100,000 New Jersey Classic consolation after breaking stride past the quarter. Trainer Noel

Daley then sent her to Kentucky for a qualifier and suddenly gears began to click. She charged

from off the speed at 69-1 to just miss victory with a third-place finish in a $68,400 International

Stallion Stake division and put forth a similar rally to take third in her Breeders Crown

elimination. The Breeders Crown final almost became her maiden-breaking score with driver

Andy McCarthy going all-in on the lead before getting collared in the closing stages by Lady

Landia. Miss Belmar wrapped her season with a third in the $70,000 Garden State Trot and a

fifth in the $455,000 Goldsmith Maid.

Miss Belmar made her sophomore debut in late May with a fourth-place finish in a New Jersey

Sire Stakes preliminary. She later made her first visit to the winner’s circle with a 1:53 win in the

$30,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes consolation. Following a tough trip in the $135,000 Zweig

Memorial Filly Trot, Miss Belmar won again, this time in a $37,625 Tompkins-Geers division

with a 1:52.1 effort. She continued her winning ways with a front-stepping effort in her

Hambletonian Oaks elimination, winning in 1:52.3 while also holding off closing rivals when

taking a rough step with an eighth of a mile left.

(Muscle Hill – Atlanta – Chapter Seven)

Deja Blu is a rare filly – a Hambletonian Oaks finalist foaled from a pair of Hambletonian

winning parents in Muscle Hill (2009) and Atlanta (2018). She took three starts before getting

her first victory, which came in a $30,000 Kentucky Commonwealth division at The Red Mile in

a 1:54.1 mile. Two more wins later, Deja Blu posted a 1:53.2 victory in the $100,000 Kentucky

Commonwealth Series final before wrapping the year with a runner-up finish in a $68,400

International Stallion Stake division (to SOUND JUDGEMENT) and a seventh-place effort

from a break in stride in her Breeders Crown elimination as the 7-5 favorite.

Coming back to the track in late May, Deja Blu put together back-to-back victories in New

Jersey Sire Stakes preliminaries before having to overcome a wide trip in the $225,000 final, in

which she settled for fourth with a :26.3 final quarter. She had a level stretch sprint in her next

start, a $32,875 Reynolds Memorial division, and finished fourth to CONVERSANO. Her next

race was a 10 th -place finish after chasing from a pocket trip in a $142,200 Del Miller Memorial

division, but she rebounded with a pylon-skimming rally in her Hambletonian Oaks elimination

to finish second to MISS BELMAR.

(Muscle Hill – Pin Kronos IT – Cantab Hall)

From the same team that brought Peter Haughton Memorial winner Aperfectyankee and

developed 2014 Hambletonian runner-up Nuncio, Team Oscarsson returns to the biggest trotting

stage with Sound Judgement. She began her career last June in the Kentucky Proud Series and

won on her debut with a 2:07.2 mile over the Lacenter Fairgounds, where she beat a filly out of

2017 Hambletonian Oaks finalist Dream Baby Dream (she finished fourth from post 10 to Ariana

G). After that win, she leapt from the fair circuit to the mainline Kentucky Sire Stakes at Oak

Grove, finishing fourth in the $100,000 final to Yo Tillie. She floundered through August in Sire

Stakes events but returned to the winner’s circle with a 39-1 pocket-popping shock in a $68,400

International Stallion Stake division at The Red Mile. A similar pocket trip landed her in the

winner’s circle of her Breeders Crown elimination and a ground-saving ride earned her a third-

place check in the $700,000 final. Her season ended with a fourth-place finish in the $455,000

Goldsmith Maid at The Meadowlands.

Sound Judgement has yet to find the winner’s circle in her 3-year-old season. From five starts,

she has managed a second-place finish in a New Jersey Sire Stakes preliminary and a pair of

sixth-place finishes in the $225,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes final and a $142,200 Del Miller

Memorial division. However, an aggressive steer by Jim Oscarsson’s son Kevin planted Sound

Judgement into a strong spot in her Hambletonian Oaks elimination, and she earned the last berth

from her division with a third-place effort.

(Propulsion – Jewels In Hock – Credit Winner)

R Charm had the busiest 2-year-old campaign of all the Hambletonian Oaks finalists this year

with 15 starts, only two of which were wins. She won her first race in her third start when taking

a New Jersey Sire Stakes preliminary going pillar to post in a 1:54.1 mile and later collected her

only other win with a 1:53.3 effort in the $250,000 New Jersey Classic. Otherwise, she competed

in most of her division’s major dances, finishing sixth in the $240,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes

final (to CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS), 10 th in the $288,600 Peaceful Way Stakes after

breaking stride, sixth in her Breeders Crown elimination (missing the final), fourth in the

$243,400 Kindergarten Classic final (to CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS) and sixth in the

$455,000 Goldsmith Maid.

Easing back to the races with three qualifiers in June, she made her return in late June with a

1:54.1 win in an overnight race at The Meadowlands and immediately dove onto the Grand

Circuit with a fourth-place effort at 155-1 in a $142,200 Del Miller Memorial division. After

finishing runner-up in a $37,125 Tompkins-Geers division, R Charm tried to make all in her

Hambletonian Oaks elimination before succumbing to, and then fighting back against,

CONVERSANO in a nose defeat.

(Muscle Hill – Danielle Hanover – Cantab Hall)

Lucas Wallin trainee Delaney Hanover had just two wins to her name from nine starts before the

Hambletonian Oaks eliminations. She won in the first two starts of her freshman season, taking a

$20,000 Kindergarten division in early August at The Meadowlands in 1:55.1 and then winning a

$25,000 New Jersey Classic elimination at the end of the month in 1:54. But as the 1-5 favorite

in the $250,000 New Jersey Classic final, she attempted to rally from well off the speed and –

with a :26.1 final quarter – settled for second to R CHARM. Delaney Hanover went winless in

her last four starts of the season – while battling stomach ulcers towards the end of the campaign

– with a fourth in the $305,000 Jim Doherty Memorial, a second as the 2-1 favorite in her

Breeders Crown elimination and a 10 th in the $700,000 Breeders Crown final.

Wallin eased her into the sophomore campaign and sent her for her first qualifier of the season on

May 31. After a second qualifier two weeks later, she debuted at the end of June in a Reynolds

Memorial division to finish third to CONVERSANO. She then faltered from a wide trip in a

$142,200 Del Miller Memorial division and finished a level fifth after finding a second-over

perch through a shuffle. Delaney Hanover remained long odds into her Hambletonian Oaks

elimination and lifted flight with a :27 final quarter to overhaul tempo-setter CHAMPAGNE

PROBLEMS and land a surprise victory in her Hambletonian Oaks elimination – one where

both chalks missed the final with odds-on choice Lady Landia failing to rally from last and R

Dutchess, the 3-1 second choice, tiring from a first-over push and finishing last.

(Muscle Hill – Celebrity Ruth – Archangel)

As a 2-year-old, Conversano struggled with gait issues. She debuted in the New Jersey Sire

Stakes smoothly with a second-place effort and then won in her next start, but then broke stride

and finished 10 th in the $240,000 final (to CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS). Following a rebound

win in an overnight race at Harrah’s Philadelphia in mid-August, she qualified for the New

Jersey Classic with a rally for fourth but she broke stride coming for home and finished eighth in

the $250,000 final (to R CHARM). She scratched sick from a Reynolds Memorial division in

late September and returned with a qualifier in early October before the Breeders Crown

eliminations, but she broke at the start of her elimination and finished eighth to cap the

campaign.

Trainer Juan Cano said that he essentially started from scratch with Conversano in her 3-year-old

season. She returned with a raucous, uncorking five wins from seven starts. She won in the

$45,000 Lady Suffolk, the $40,000 Garden State Trot, a preliminary and the $225,000 final of

the New Jersey Sire Stakes and in a $32,875 Reynolds Memorial division. Her only losses have

come in a New Jersey Sire Stakes preliminary (to CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS) and in the Del

Miller Memorial, where she traversed a wide off-the-pace trip and finished an even third. Sent a

1-5 chalk in her Hambletonian Oaks elimination, she surged to the lead in the stretch but then

clung onto a nose victory in a 1:52.4 mile.

(Googoo Gaagaa – Asixpakfromperfect – Windsong’s Legacy)

Aperfect Annie began her career at Oak Grove in the Kentucky Sire Stakes, finishing second in a

preliminary and then in the $100,000 final. She remained stationed in Kentucky for the Kentucky

Sire Stakes, winning an $80,000 preliminary and later pulling a 29-1 upset in the $400,000 final.

After a 1:53 gate-to-wire win in a $68,400 International Stallion Stake division, she left the

Bluegrass State for The Meadowlands to compete in the Breeders Crown, finishing second in her

elimination but then tiring to eighth in the $700,000 final.

Following a pair of winning qualifiers at Scioto Downs in May, Aperfect Annie returned as a

sophomore at Oak Grove to beat older rivals in a $20,000 Open 2 Trot in early June. She then

won a preliminary of the Kentucky Sire Stakes before venturing east to The Meadowlands,

where she missed a qualifier and returned a lukewarm seventh from a pocket trip in a $141,000

Del Miller Memorial division. But she improved from that effort in her next start, the

Hambletonian Oaks eliminations, by holding her ground from a pocket ride to finish third behind

CONVERSANO.

(Walner – Speak To Me – Muscle Massive)

Out of a dam who finished ninth in the 2015 Hambletonian Oaks to Wild Honey, Walspea has so

far proved an unassuming prospect. She won a single race from six starts as a freshman – a

1:54.3 effort in a New Jersey Sire Stakes preliminary, which also was the first start of her career.

Her only other on-the-board finishes came in an overnight at Harrah’s Philadelphia in mid-

August, where she coincidentally finished runner-up to Oaks finalist CONVERSANO, and a

runner-up effort in the $100,000 New Jersey Classic Consolation.

Walspea started her sophomore campaign with a splash, winning in her first two starts in

overnight races at Harrah’s Philadelphia. She then missed the first preliminary of New Jersey

Sire Stakes due to sickness, but returned with a fourth-place effort while handling broken

equipment in leg two. She finished second in the $30,000 consolation (to MISS BELMAR) and

grabbed a confidence-boosting victory in another conditioned race at Harrah’s Philadelphia.

Trainer-driver Trond Smedshammer then worked a seamless trip through a shuffle to finish third

in a $142,200 Del Miller Memorial division before entering the Hambletonian Oaks

eliminations, in which she finished third in her elimination (to MISS BELMAR) off of a pocket

trip.

(Tactical Landing – Miss Caviar – SJ’s Caviar)

Named from a song off Taylor Swift’s 2020 album evermore, Champagne Problems proved

herself the darling of Nancy Takter’s 2-year-old contingent last year with over $500,000 banked

from 12 starts – seven of those being victories. She debuted a winner with a 1:54.2 effort in a

Kindergarten preliminary in early July and went on to finish second and first in New Jersey Sire

Stakes prelims before snatching the $240,000 on Hambletonian Day in a 1:52.3 mile. Her next

start came on the Grand Circuit in the Peaceful Way Stakes, though she finished second in her

elimination as the 2-5 favorite and fourth in the $288,600 final as the even-money favorite.

Champagne Problems proceeded to win every remaining race of her 2-year-old campaign where

she stayed flat including the $305,000 Jim Doherty Memorial at Harrah’s Hoosier Park and the

$243,400 Kindergarten Classic at The Meadowlands.

Champagne Problems resurfaced following two qualifiers at the end of April and start of May.

She won her first race as a sophomore, a New Jersey Sire Stakes preliminary, at the end of May

in a 1:53.3 effort. She broke stride from a 10-hole draw in the $225,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes

final after parking the mile and then parked the mile in her next start, a $33,375 Reynolds

Memorial division, while staying flat to finish second behind open-length winner Yo Tillie. A

shuffle from an inside trip in a $142,200 Del Miller Memorial took Champagne Problems out of

contention in her next start, so Dexter Dunn moved to make speed in her Hambletonian Oaks

elimination. She turned away most challengers turning for home, but could not quicken enough

when prompted to stave off the furious rally from DELANEY HANOVER to the center of the

track and settled for second.

(Walner – Barn Girl – Cash Hall)

Debuting a winner with a 1:54.1 mile in her Kindergarten division, Torrisi went the rest of her 2-

year-old season without seeing the winner’s circle. She qualified for the $240,000 New Jersey

Sire Stakes final, where she finished seventh, and then for the $400,000 Kentucky Sire Stakes

final, where she finished runner-up to APERFECT ANNIE. Owner Robbie Pryde then used his

purchased slot in the Mohawk Million on this filly, but she had to overcome post 10 in her

seventh-place effort in the co-ed stake up north. Her freshman season ended with a fourth-place

finish in her Breeders Crown elimination, missing the final, and a tiring effort to finish fourth in

a Kindergarten preliminary in late October.

Torrisi returned spryly with a speed try out of post 9 in a New Jersey Sire Stake preliminary in

early June, but just got caught in a :26.4 sprint by her stablemate DEJA BLU. She worked a

pocket trip to finish runner-up in the $225,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes final (to

CONVERSANO) before surprising at odds of 11-1 with an aggressive effort in the $135,000

Zweig Memorial Filly Trot. She chased her rivals to a fourth-place finish in her next start, a

$141,000 Del Miller Memorial division, before competing in the Hambletonian Oaks

eliminations and finishing fourth off a second over trip. Torrisi qualified for the final by having

the highest lifetime earnings of the other fourth-place finishers in the Hambletonian Oaks

eliminations, Kadena and R Lady W.