By Ray Cotolo
When she retired in 2007 at the age of 6, Peaceful Way had already cemented herself a pride of Ontario trotting. A campaign, which began in 2003, wrapped with 33 victories – with enough black-type wins to drain a printer of ink – from 52 races and $2.7 million earned, making her the third highest-earning trotting mare of all time behind Moni Maker and Peace Corps. All of this done by a $30,000 yearling trained by a guy in Dave Tingley who himself did not find peace until after being hoisted to the stratosphere by the irrational luck of a horse like this one. That’s Peaceful Way.
After her retirement, she received commemoration with a nameplate. The Oakville Stakes, which she won in 2003, became the Peaceful Way Stakes in 2008. Its placement on the calendar makes it a precocious prize, but it also often been a preview for talent in the making. Pampered Princess won this race in 2006 and later tried to fight the boys in the 2007 Hambletonian. Snow White used the stake as a springboard for her million-dollar season, ended by a tragic bout of colic. Bee A Magician’s first Grand Circuit win came in the Peaceful Way before she became a Hambletonian Oaks winner and later a generational trotting mare. Hambletonian Oaks winners Ariana G and Manchego also established their talent in the Peaceful Way. And so on, and so on.
Nowadays, the Peaceful Way truly is the first big test for freshman trotting fillies, a marker previously stamped by the Jim Doherty Memorial (or the Merrie Annabelle) until that raced moved off the Hambletonian Day schedule to Harrah’s Hoosier Park. The pair of eliminations for the 2024 edition, then, will offer a glimpse to who may be a reckoning force of the division, or even who may be the next trotter of a generation.
In the first elimination (carded as Race 3), nobody has raced more than four times in their life; already, they’re diving nose first to the trenches. Trainer Luc Blais has a legacy starter for Serge Godin’s Determination with the No. 6 Lasting Dream in the first elimination. Blais, who won this race last year with Drawn Impression and in 2020 with Donna Soprano, also trained the dam Dream Together, who herself had a strong sophomore and aged campaign against the likes of Hannelore Hanover.
Alongside her in that first elimination is a Marcus Melander trainee named Royal Mission, who has only won once in her career so far. But the daughter of Chapter Seven comes from the same family that struck gold in 2021 and in 2022. Swinging Royalty – the dam of Royal Mission – first foaled Ahundreddollarbill, winner of the 2021 Canadian Trotting Classic, and Slay, winner of the 2022 Canadian Trotting Classic.
Though the morning-line favorite in the first elimination is a hometown chance. Blake MacIntosh trains the 2-1 choice Monalishi, who is from the first crop of Marcus Melander’s former muscle tank Green Manalishi S. She so far has shown herself as the current cream to the provincial division, and now this race gives her an opportunity to flex a broader muscle with others from North America shipping to town.
The second elimination features a potential star. First thing to note – Jimmy Takter dominated in this race. He first won when it was the Oakville Stakes and run in divisions when he steered Articulate Hanover to victory in 1995, and then after it became an elimination-final form he won six more times. From 2016 to 2018, the Peaceful Way was won only by Jimmy Takter. It became a race where Takter introduced the world to whichever trotting filly he had who would later become transcendent talents.
Jimmy Takter has long since retired, and his daughter Nancy Takter now runs the ship. In the same year where Nancy became the first trainer to win back-to-back Hambletonians since her dad, she ships north this Tactical Landing filly named Champagne Problems, who starts from post 6 as the 8-5 morning-line favorite. The filly strolled with relative ease over the sloppy Hambletonian Day track muddled by flash rains to post the fastest mile of the season by any trotter: 1:52.3. Her bottom remains to be seen.
To her inside races Margareta Hanover, who comes from the Cantab Hall mare Hot Mess Hanover and is by Swedish champion Maharajah. This filly trained by Marcus Melander, then, is a half sister to Jiggy Jog S, the current leading trotter in North America. With just three starts under her belt, she has not necessarily shown all that she is yet.
And interestingly enough, the daughter of a past Peaceful Way champion competes in this elimination. R Dutchess, starting from post 1, is a Father Patrick filly out of the Muscle Hill mare The Ice Dutchess, who was the last Peaceful Way winner trained by Jimmy Takter. John Butenschoen trains the filly who also appears to be finding herself.
The top five from each elimination make the Peaceful Way final next week. These eliminations will offer a lot to decipher – mostly in seeing who has the chops for a good performance the next week, sure. But with a careful enough eye, we might see the beginning of something special.
