He is not the flashiest horse on the racetrack, but Pinkman possesses the one quality all trainers hope to find in their horses: The ability to win.
Last Saturday afternoon at the Meadowlands, he proved it again.
Pinkman won the 90th edition of the Hambletonian Stakes, giving trainer Jimmy Takter of East Windsor his fourth victory in the world’s most prestigious race for 3-year-old trotters. Pinkman defeated female rival Mission Brief, who was the race’s favorite, by three-quarters of a length in a world-record 1:51. Takter-trained Uncle Lasse and The Bank finished third and fourth, respectively.
Takter, who last year won the Hambletonian with Trixton, became the sixth trainer in history to win the race in consecutive years. And the only trainers with more total Hambletonian trophies – all with five – are Stanley Dancer, Billy Haughton and Ben White.
In addition, Takter’s Wild Honey won the $500,000 Hambletonian Oaks for 3-year-old female trotters. It was also the second consecutive year Takter won the Oaks, making him the only trainer in history to twice sweep both the Hambletonian and Hambletonian Oaks in the same year.
“For me, this is my job,” Takter said following the Hambletonian. “Right now, my adrenaline is pumping. But when I get home and sit down, that’s when it will sink in for me.”
Pinkman has won 14 of 17 career races, finished second on two occasions, and earned $1.73 million. Last year, he was voted the sport’s best 2-year-old male trotter and this year he became the first divisional champ to return and win the Hambletonian since Muscle Hill in 2009. He is owned by Takter’s wife Christina, brothers John and Jim Fielding, Joyce McClelland, and Herb Liverman.
The Hambletonian attracted 19 horses, so two elimination races were contested earlier in the day. Pinkman won the first and Mission Brief won the second. Meadowlands leading driver Yannick Gingras drove both horses in their respective eliminations and decided to drive Mission Brief, who was bidding to become the first female to win the race since Continentalvictory in 1996, in the $1 million final.
Brian Sears inherited the drive with Pinkman and won the race for the third time in his career.
“I tried to tell [Gingras] you’re making a great mistake,” Takter said. “And I was right. Pinkman is just such a fighter. He’s not impressive, but he gets it done every time.”
Pinkman has made a career of surprising people with his ability to win. When he was a young horse, Takter considered selling him because of the horse’s laziness. Pinkman began to turn the corner late last summer and Takter decided to keep him. He ended up winning six of eight races last year, including the Breeders Crown.
“I’ve been surprised sometimes, but most of the time you know what you have,” Takter said earlier this year. “But in this case, I had no clue. I had no clue.
“He was a surprise.”
Pinkman’s original name was Traffic Jam, but the horse was renamed for the character Jesse Pinkman in the AMC television drama “Breaking Bad.”
Nothing, though, is breaking bad for Pinkman.
“He’s a tough horse,” Takter said. “Horses like that, who love to win, you’ve got to respect them.”
