Freehold, NJ --- Julie Miller likens Opulent Yankee’s return from a nearly five-month layoff to compete in Friday’s Open Handicap for trotters at the Meadowlands to “jumping off the high dive a little bit.” But it might help the trainer determine whether the 4-year-old gelding can make a big splash in 2016.
Opulent Yankee has won six of 18 races this year and finished second on nine occasions en route to $141,881 in purses. He finished no worse than second in any of his first 15 starts of the season and eight of his second-place finishes came to world champion JL Cruze. In fact, overall, JL Cruze won 11 of the 12 races Opulent Yankee failed to win.
A son of stallion Muscles Yankee out of the mare Opulent Bluestone, Opulent Yankee finished second in the Super Bowl, Singer Memorial, Shiaway St Pat, and Weiss series finals. He won two preliminary legs of the Super Bowl as well as one preliminary round of each the Singer, Shiaway St Pat, Weiss and Graduate series.
Opulent Yankee will start Friday’s nine-horse $25,000 Open Handicap from post three with driver Andy Miller. He is 5-1 on the morning line, which is the third choice behind 5-2 favorite Handover Belle and 3-1 Master Of Law.
“He’s had a great season,” said Julie Miller, who trains Opulent Yankee for Jeff Gural’s Little E LLC, Arthur Geiger, Jason Settlemoir and David Stolz. “He was finishing second to JL Cruze, which wasn’t a bad thing. This summer we decided to give him a little time off and he’s come back nicely.
“I think we’re jumping off the high dive a little bit starting right out in the Open, but that’s where he fits and where he has to race. It’s kind of a step up from just series, but hopefully he’ll be able to do OK.”
As a 3-year-old, Opulent Yankee trotted the fifth-fastest winning mile by a sophomore male trotter, 1:51.4, despite racing only five times. This season, he has a mark of 1:52.3, which is among the top 40 by an older trotter, and was timed as fast as 1:51.3 in a fourth-place Graduate Series finish behind stakes-winners JL Cruze, Father Patrick, and Resolve.
Opulent Yankee finished eighth in the Graduate Series final on July 11, despite a 1:51.4 effort, and was given time to refresh. He had raced at least twice in each of the first six months of the year.
“He had enough starts,” Miller said. “He just needed a little vacation time. I wanted to get him fresh and back at it for the winter meet. A well-deserved break was needed, rather than tackling the TVG (Free For All Series).
Opulent Yankee enters this weekend’s Open Handicap off two qualifiers. He finished second in the first qualifier, timed in 1:56, and won the second qualifier in 1:53.1.
“He’s got those two nice qualifiers, but as a trainer I’d like to see him in an easier spot and give him a chance to get his legs underneath of him,” Miller said. “It is what it is. Hopefully he can compete at this level. He loves the Meadowlands, he loves a mile track, and I think Andy gets along with him excellent. I’m optimistic about it, but at the same time they’re going to race and they’re going to go fast. I don’t want to over-extend him his first start, but we go to the races to do our best and to win.”
As for Opulent Yankee’s future, Miller’s plan at the moment is to have no plan.
“I’m going to play it by ear,” Miller said. “I don’t see him as of right now being a top stakes horse going against the best of the best. But I’d like to eat my words and see that happen.
“He can prove to me what he wants to be as a 5-year-old.”