By Jane Meggitt, Special Writer
The premier event in harness racing, the Hambletonian, scheduled for Saturday at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, has something new for fans this year.
Not only harness racing will be on the day’s card.
Thanks to the efforts of Helene Gregory, of East Windsor, harness racing’s biggest day also will feature a “Racing Under Saddle” exhibition for Standardbreds with a purse of $15,000. Known as monte racing in Europe, Meadowlands Racetrack operator Jeff Gural put up half of the purse money while three major Standardbred breeding farms — Blue Chip, Winbak and Walnut Hall — contributed the rest.
Racing under saddle for Standardbreds is completely different from thoroughbred racing. Only trotters, not pacers, may participate in these races that are conducted at the trot. If the horse breaks gait, the rider must take the horse to the outside for it to regain its gait. In this country, participating horses must be registered either with the United States Trotting Association or Standardbred Canada.
Ms. Gregory, the wife of trainer and driver Jeff Gregory, will ride 9-year-old Master Pine, a trotter who has won $604,844 in his racing career. Ms. Gregory said that in 2010, the horse raced in the open trotter division at New York’s Yonkers raceway and banked a whopping $233,475, but a broken jaw stopped his career in 2011.
Upper Freehold equine surgeon Patty Hogan operated on him, and he healed up, Ms. Gregory said.
”This year, he started out winless until last week when he won again at Yonkers in 1:56 1/5 after a few weeks of his new training method — riding,” she said.
Ms. Gregory said Master Pine was not so sure about riding at first, but after about three days of consistent under saddle training, he really took a liking to it, and he now jogs 4 to 5 miles a day on a loose rein with no pulling or stress. Ms. Gregory schooled him behind a starting gate as well to make sure the right equipment was on so he would be not too hot or unmanageable for her to ride in a race.
”He was a perfect gentleman,” she said.
Master Pine’s trainer, Julie Miller, of Millstone, said she thought the horse would be good for racing under saddle because he does not wear trotting hopples — harness racing equipment that fits around the front legs of a trotter to help steady the horse’s gait.
”The owners and I are very excited that he will be racing under saddle on Hambletonian Day,” Ms. Miller said. “Helene is an experienced rider and has been working with him for the past few weeks. He seems to really enjoy his new job.”
Ms. Miller said racing under saddle is a unique aspect of the Standardbred racing industry and said she hopes Saturday’s race will create new interest in the sport.
Ms. Gregory said the field will have 10 horses behind the gate, and she expects some good trotters to enter. Top trainer Trond Smedshammer, of Upper Freehold, is even bringing a rider from Norway to ride one of his best trotters, Blacktuxwhitesocks, she said.
”Monte racing is very big in Norway, and this young girl, Malin Berass, is one of their top riders, so it will be an exciting race,” Ms. Gregory said.
Another possible contender is Zuerest, a 5-year-old, 17.2 trotter trained by Joe Poliseno, of Upper Freehold, ridden by Florida resident Susie Kovacic-Webster.
A native of Sweden, Ms. Gregory said racing under saddle is a big sport in much of Europe, especially France.
”The Norwegian and Swedish riders are very professional, and training camp trips to France are something that a lot of them do to learn from the best,” she said.
Ms. Gregory said she hopes the racing under saddle attracts more people to the races, and, ultimately, the races become approved for gambling.
”I think larger fields of horses and maybe different racing distances could generate a lot of new interest from both the general public and horse owners and trainers,” she said.

