News

Precious Body in foal for March 2008...

MeM has only one mare in foal this year, after a record high 5 in 2005. Precious Body is in foal to Yankee Cruiser. Precious' foal will be a half brother or sister to MeM's yearling Cruiser Eric.

MeM featured in Harness Magazine...

The February issue of The Buckeye Harness Horseman hits newstands the week of Feb 6th and MeM Stables is profiled in a feature article written by outstanding author and horseman Dean Hoffman. Dean's years as a USTA writer and his thorough knowledge of the harness horse industry make for an entertaining and insightful profile behind the scenes of MeM Stables. Be sure and check out the magazine and especially the article about MeM.

Coming soon...

MeM will have a limited number of DVD's of their 2005 racing season available soon. Re-live the excitement of the stunning performances turned in by MeM's Champion fillies in their Ohio Sires Stakes, Steinam Pace and First Lady Pace wins.

MeM adds a filly to their stable...

MeM purchased Ritch Attack at the 2005 Ohio Selected Jug Sale. Ritch Attack is a 2 year old Bay filly out of On The Attack. She'll join her 2 year old stable mate, Toler's Tiger, along with 3 year old Don't Blame Her, on the training track this winter. Here's what the USTA had to say about her sire, On The Attack.

Ritch Attack at PJT Farms.

How does the Webmaster pick a winner...

Recently, USTA's handicapping experts asked readers to send in their tips for picking a winner. Our webmaster submitted hers. Click here to read the story on USTA's site.

Precious gets noticed at OSS.

USTA has a nice article about the OSS race Sunday, July 10th featuring MeM fillies Precious Body and Scoot to Connect. Click here to read the article.

Quoted this week.

MeM owners recently spent time with 20 year harness racing veteran, and owner of Ohio's #1 filly and OSS points leader, One Wild Woman, who shared the key to his success over the years . "You guys have two good fillies with the potential to beat most of the horses on the field, but you have to be in a position to win" he was heard to say. Look for the MeM team to put this advice into action going into the important OSS races this month.

MeM sells 2 year old pacer.

MeM sold their 2 year old pacer Lookin Sharp Trish this week for an undisclosed sum. Trish had been pacing well, but didn't fit with MeM strategy to race in OSS and other high purse races. Trish's new home is in the Northeastern Ohio Amish country, where her owners will train her as a buggy horse.

MeM link added to USTA site.

The United States Trotting Association (USTA) has included a link to MeM's website in the Industry links section of www.ustrotting.com. Open the USTA site, scroll all the way to the bottom and click on Industry Links. Select 'Farms and Stables' and scroll down until you see Matt-e-Mike Stables. The USTA is the most well known and respected association for harness racing enthusiasts worldwide.

MeM is always looking for pacers with promise. Contact us if you have one you'd like to sell.

MeM News

MeM logo designed by Dan Curry

Miller dominates in the Ohio Sire Stakes
Monday, August 22, 2005 - by Michael White, general manager, Toledo Raceway Park

Toledo, OH Aug 22nd 2005--- Brett Miller, the third-leading dashwinning driver in the nation, showed why he has reached that lofty status when he won four races on Sunday night at Raceway Park. Two of his victories came in $20,000 divisions of the Ohio Sire Stakes.

Three-year-old trotting and pacing colts came to Toledo in a last ditch effort to earn enough points to qualify for their respective $100,000 Ohio Sire Stakes Finals, which will be raced on September 3 at Northfield Park. Two groups of trotters and three groups of pacers faced Toledo’s starter, Bruce Patterson.

RU A Looker posted a mild upset when the heavy favorite, Indian Hill Rocket, broke stride after having been interfered with by Oneforthemaster. Hugh Beatty, Jr. handled the winning son of Ilooklikemymom for trainer Dan Reynolds and owner Gary Reynolds. RU A Looker wore down Fessup Fred, who had battled with John Stevenson throughout the mile, but later succumbed to having been parked-out. The victory was the fifth in 10 starts for RU A Looker, who covered the mile in 1:59³.

In the other trotting division, Nathan My Boy went wire-to-wire, in 2:00¹, for driver Jeff Fout, and had just enough left in the tank to hold off Goodbye Daddy. Another son of Ilooklikemymom, Nathan My Boy posted his seventh win in 11 trips to the starting gate for owner-trainer Tony Raber. Trojan Hero finished third.

The pacing colts then took center stage, and in the first division Ohio Pride paced a :29³ final quarter-mile, prevailed in a three-horse photo, and tripped the timer first, in 1:57. Wind O Laag was the bridesmaid in the photo, and Look Logan completed the Trifecta. Ohio Pride is owned by Richard Waterman of Whitehouse, Ohio and is trained by Jim Mullinix. The victory was only the second of his career -- which explained the $36.20 mutuel payoff.

Brett Miller then took charge in the next two divisions; he first piloted Goodnite Buddy to victory, in 1:55², and then steered Medoland Carter to a 1:55³ win. In both races, Miller bided his time, charged late in the stretch, and won decisively.

Goodnite Buddy scored a one-half length victory over VC Express, and Naturally Noble finished four lengths farther back. The winning son of Nobleland Sam is owned by Timothy Lee and trained by Michael Lee, and now has posted three wins in 12 starts this year.

Medoland Carter is also a son of Nobleland Sam, and is having a huge year. He has posted six wins in eight starts for Tamara Hoovler, Mike Medors, and Douglas Adair, and has earned $56,276 so far. He won easily over Noble Jetta and Sam's Gift, who finished in that order.

The evening concluded Raceway Park's schedule of Ohio Sire Stakes in 2005, but the north Toledo oval will host the $70,000 Ohio Sire Stakes Final for 4- and 5-year-old pacers on Sunday, October 9.

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Tim Bojarski started working at a track at age 20 as a groom, and bought his first horse at 21. He was licensed as an owner/trainer/driver from 1980 through 1994 and had a public stable of as many as 10 horses in the mid 1980's. He raced at just about every track in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Ontario at some point. He authored a tip sheet for sale at Batavia Downs nightly in the 1980's where he specialized in longshot payoffs and has been writing for Hoof Beats since Dec. 2001.

A View From the Stands: Our Readers Send Along Their Handicapping Tips
by Tim Bojarski

Fourteen days ago, I asked our readers to send in their favorite handicapping systems. I had an overwhelming response to this request and some of the strategies sent along were both interesting and solid. In this weeks column I would like to share some of the angles I received with you and I’m sure you’ll agree, people put a lot of thought in before they lay their money down.

Bob Lewis Sr. wrote in to tell us about well spotted speed. "I will bet a horse in a race that finished in the money his last start and came home the fastest last half, that was coming off the slowest first half of all the contenders. This means he came home on his own and wasn’t sucked along by a fast first half passing tired horses. He had speed when it counted, in the last half of the race."

Bruce Phillian thinks a drivers horse selection when he has 2 or more prospects in one race is very significant. "Sometimes you will see a driver choose to drive a horse that hasn’t won all year over an overwhelming statistical favorite from an inside post. You have to figure he knows something about the horse where he would pass up driving the favorite. You must account for owner/trainer/driver alliances, but overall it is a good weeding out tool."

Al Clocker watches win odds fluctuations. "I look for when horses 5-1 or higher get bet down really low in the first few minutes. I see most of the time these horses with high morning lines that get hit early generally go back up by race time because the public usually sticks with the favorites. These horses are most often very live."

Norm Files favorite angle is the "One Only" drive. "What I look for here is when one of the better drivers from Mohawk or Woodbine comes down to Flamboro for one drive only. They must be very confident in the horse and their chances to come to a smaller track for just one race. I catch a lot of decent payouts just watching for this one thing."

Arch Glenn borrowed a play form an old time handicapper. "You sit out the first race of the Daily Double, then take the double payouts with the winner of the first and divide them by the morning line odds of the second race entrants. You then bet the lowest divided number. You always seem to have something live by doing this. I really like to use the late double numbers so you can also get the pick 3 payoffs to gauge against. It’s always a good thing to hit the last race and take home your hard earned winnings."

Millard Beatty has a "Next Time" system. "I like to bet a horse that leaves from the outside and gets parked out the whole mile and then comes back the following week with an inside post. Many times this week he will wire the field and often at a better price than his last start."

Chuck Morrison turns to the USTA for help. "One of the best tools I use for handicapping is the USTA speed rating charts. Far too many bettors dismiss a good horse that is moving from a ½ mile to a larger track or vice versa because they cannot equate that horse’s performance to its new track. I’ve won many races when I find a horse that comes in from a short track whose times, when properly converted, make it a competitive entity on a larger track."

Jeff Berger likes favorites in trifectas. "When you have 2 solid favorites paying short in the exacta (like 1-3 pays $6.00 and 2-1 pays $4.20) and the rest of the field is all double digits, I like to wheel the favorites in the trifecta. I have hit trifectas with this system paying from $30 to $450 and it tends to work about 50% of the time with the higher end races."

And last but not least, Terri Curry writes in with my personal favorite. "The system that works best for me is to bet what my Dad bets. He’s lucky!"

I can only follow that up with announcing the winners of the random draw of all who replied and they are:

Norm Files who won the "Bet and Win" harness racing book

Arch Glenn who won the 2 1970’s Tip Sheets

We had many people reply and only limited space to print some of their responses. Feel free to write me any time with your angles or comments as I always look forward to getting your e-mails. Thank you for your participation and….

Good Luck!