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General Category => Harness Racing => Topic started by: BigBen7 on August 02, 2025, 07:13:36 PM

Title: Maryland
Post by: BigBen7 on August 02, 2025, 07:13:36 PM
Nice trotter but OVERATED to be compared with other top trotters !!! No excuses He's never crossed the finish line a winner
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: JT on August 02, 2025, 07:22:43 PM
He definitely disappointed today.. some starts this year he's had excuses.. but not today
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: Harness racer on August 02, 2025, 07:23:14 PM
Never?  Ever?  You are very mistaken. Richest 2yo trotter last season,I think he crossed first a few times.  The others have caught up to him this season.  Still an elite trotter that anybody would love to own!
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: BigBen7 on August 03, 2025, 10:54:23 AM
I should have stated 0 wins this year My bad Very good trotter but see a decline in form coming after this performance. I hope I'm wrong
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: LHR on August 03, 2025, 07:42:01 PM
Maybe sour grapes, but Dexter said Maryland was tracking great, and when he tipped him he took several bad steps and he had to steady him and lost his momentum. Add to this that Jeff Gural admitted in the Winners Circle that his maintenance crew made the track to Sarah Svanstedts liking, meaning deep to help with the fact they pulled NCs shoes.
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: Kenny on August 03, 2025, 07:47:44 PM
Add to this that Jeff Gural admitted in the Winners Circle that his maintenance crew made the track to Sarah Svanstedts liking, meaning deep to help with the fact they pulled NCs shoes.

Can you prove this?  The whole broadcast should be on YouTube.  You can pick the exact time and YouTube will give you a link for that exact moment. What you are accusing him of is essentially fraud.
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: LHR on August 03, 2025, 07:59:30 PM
Even though he foolishly thanked his maintained crew for making the track to Sarah's liking, hard to prove that is what caused Marylands bad steps, or Nordic Catcher s great performance. Still, a bad look for sure.
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: Kole Hanover on August 03, 2025, 08:50:58 PM

 I don't mind Gural at all, he's done nothing but treated me well
 If someone was going to win yesterday, I'm glad he did.

 Maybe should've kept the track maintenance comment out of it but he was over the moon.

  Sarah S could make good money training horses on her own so with her & Ake, it's a wonderful team.
 
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: Parked on August 03, 2025, 08:54:32 PM
So the track was conditioned to the liking of just one horse ans all the rest didn’t like it ???  Sour grapes. 
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: Chessington on August 03, 2025, 09:12:07 PM
Can you prove this?  The whole broadcast should be on YouTube.  You can pick the exact time and YouTube will give you a link for that exact moment. What you are accusing him of is essentially fraud.
He did say that tongue in cheek. Anybody who takes it out of context is completely clueless about horse racing
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: getreal on August 04, 2025, 08:05:54 PM
sick of the 2025 Maryland excuses, he's a nice horse but not a great horse
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: MCR on August 05, 2025, 08:41:32 AM
In my opinion hes been a let down this year based off of last year. With that said hes still a very nice trotting colt just not what was expected of him.  And thats OK he will still grind out more money this year than most people's salary. In fact probably already has.   To be honest my disappointment started back at Vernon earlier this year when he got beat. He just doesn't appear to have made a jump in improvement this year. But again still a very nice little trotter!
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: Papillon on August 05, 2025, 12:11:56 PM
it isn't easy to live up to 3yo expectations based off a stellar 2yo campaign

he basically "ran the table" as a 2yo as someone said

another poster suggested his first three losses this year were meaningless

he has another 60-90 days to show us all some more--of course he is a very nice trotter
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: Brown jug on August 05, 2025, 01:28:59 PM
yes dominating at 2 and 3 is very difficult
very few do it and that makes them special
maryland caught fire/form in 2024 and won his last 5 races
 horses changes from 2 to 3 and some don't
never assume that just because a horse was the best at 2 they will dominate at 3
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: pocketrocketwinner on August 05, 2025, 04:15:48 PM
He did say that tongue in cheek. Anybody who takes it out of context is completely clueless about horse racing

Very similar to to when he said that the purse account would receive zero dollars from the sportsbook.

Say something then aggressively insult anyone who believes what you say.
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: Brown jug on August 05, 2025, 06:39:30 PM
gural seemed genuinely excited and thankful for winning the hambo and why not, who wouldn't be
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: hoosierboy on August 05, 2025, 07:30:47 PM
sick of the 2025 Maryland excuses, he's a nice horse but not a great horse

I agree..  he will knock down $500k but won’t be the horse everyone expected
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: Parked on August 05, 2025, 08:42:24 PM
In my opinion hes been a let down this year based off of last year. With that said hes still a very nice trotting colt just not what was expected of him.  And thats OK he will still grind out more money this year than most people's salary. In fact probably already has.   To be honest my disappointment started back at Vernon earlier this year when he got beat. He just doesn't appear to have made a jump in improvement this year. But again still a very nice little trotter!
[/quote

I saw him race and thought he was raced conservatively.  Then was 2 again and again. Thought he was being primed for Hambo , raced well but not the horse I thought he was.  Now to see if he steps up in Ky…
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: seen2much on August 05, 2025, 09:04:41 PM
Melander's horses perform well in the Hambletonian. They seem to not as sharp in the final. I remember Greenshoe & that crew too....coming up short.
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: SDST2009 on August 05, 2025, 10:11:35 PM
Melander's horses perform well in the Hambletonian. They seem to not as sharp in the final. I remember Greenshoe & that crew too....coming up short.

IMO it is becoming harder and harder to have a trotter that is spectacular at both 2 and 3. It seems to me Melander is far better at accomplishing that domination at 2.
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: The Answer on August 05, 2025, 10:52:39 PM
IMO it is becoming harder and harder to have a trotter that is spectacular at both 2 and 3. It seems to me Melander is far better at accomplishing that domination at 2.

Seems people never said that when it came to Karl.
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: SDST2009 on August 05, 2025, 11:06:40 PM
Seems people never said that when it came to Karl.

Which part?
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: themightythor on August 05, 2025, 11:26:50 PM
i have to give dexter some blame.i thought maryland was much better on the lead and was much better holdiing onto to a lead then he was trying to close but dex never put him out front this year.he always duck in on the front
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: SeattleSlew on August 06, 2025, 07:54:46 PM
I have owned mostly trotters and just a few pacers, but my overall observation when watching 2 year-olds move to 3 is that many more trotters who were "clueless" as two-year olds "get it" at 3, whereas most pacers have it locked at 2 and move it on to 3; thus accounting for the disparity between trotters and pacers with respect to keeping similar rankings from 2 to 3.  It is not that Maryland isn't as good at 3, but just that some immature trotters got a lot better and caught up to him (and passed him literally and figuratively.)
Title: Re: Maryland
Post by: SDST2009 on August 06, 2025, 09:15:04 PM
I have owned mostly trotters and just a few pacers, but my overall observation when watching 2 year-olds move to 3 is that many more trotters who were "clueless" as two-year olds "get it" at 3, whereas most pacers have it locked at 2 and move it on to 3; thus accounting for the disparity between trotters and pacers with respect to keeping similar rankings from 2 to 3.  It is not that Maryland isn't as good at 3, but just that some immature trotters got a lot better and caught up to him (and passed him literally and figuratively.)

 tmbz1
I agree that a lot of trotters just need another year, certainly moreso than pacers. I do not follow pacers as closely but I know for sure some very average and/or unraced 2yo trotters have come back at 3 to be outstanding, and I get the sense that is less common in pacers. 

And yeah - Maryland doesn't appear crippled or terrible this year at all. Everyone (myself included) just expected him to dominate this year, too, and he hasn't. There are new players that have improved beyond him right now. I bet he brings home something big before the end of the year. He doesn't appear cooked.
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