Ponder the Odds, Prince of Tides Back at Freehold Saturday

Ponder the Odds and Prince of Tides will look to cap off their respective dominant runs at Freehold Raceway on Saturday, when they compete in the New Jersey Sire Stakes-Standardbred Development Fund (NJSS-SDF) Finals for 3-year-old pacing fillies and colts and geldings, respectively.

 

Ponder the Odds, sired by Ponder and trained by Kathleen La Montagne, has reeled off four consecutive victories, including the first two legs of the NJSS-SDF series. Like she did the past two weeks, she drew the inside post. This will play right into her front-running style of racing. Pat Lachance will be the driver.

 

Surreality and Stood Up look to have the best chance to upset among her five rivals. Stood Up, trained by Michael Hall, almost pulled it off last week, losing to Ponder the Odds by just a neck. She drew the outside post in the field of six, with Joe Bongiorno in the bike. Surreality has hit the board at long odds in each of the first two legs, most recently finishing third at 42/1. Austin Siegelman will drive her from post five, for trainer Nicholas Devita.

 

Hurrikane Lori Ann, A Beach Cowgirl, and Fear No Evil round out the field. The final has been scheduled as the third race, with an approximate post time of 1:10 PM EDT.

 

Meanwhile, Prince of Tides, sired by Somebeachsomewhere,  has been nothing short of a beast in his two starts at Freehold this meet. He won the Homegrown pace by 2 1/2 lengths in 1:52.3 two starts back, then won the first leg by three lengths in 1:53.4 last out. The Ross Croghan trainee bypassed the second leg of the series, to stay fresh for the final. He drew post position three in the field of seven, and will be driven by George Brennan.

 

Nick Surick will send out two, including Trente Deo, the winner of the second leg. Andy Miller will drive from post position six. Surick’s other horse, Black Dan, drew directly to his inside. He’ll seek to improve off a fourth and a fifth in the first two legs.

 

Reigning Deo, Admiral Ballsy, Just Plain Loco, and Cool Your Heels, the latter two both trained by Tom Fanning, complete the ensemble. It will go as the fifth race, with an approximate post time of 12:30 PM EDT.