Harness racing Colt with New Brunswick connections is favoured in $1.1-million Meadowlands Pace tonight

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Though they represent different breeds, New Brunswick's latest connection to horse racing stardom is being compared to the immortal Secretariat.

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Clive Cohen/New Image Media

Paul MacDonell drives Somebeachsomewhere to victory at the $1.5 million North American Cup at Mohawk raceway in June. The superstar Colt, which ha new brunswick ownership, is favoured in tonight’s Meadowlands Pace in New Jersey.

Somebeachsomewhere, the current global superstar of the harness racing world, received the high praise this week from Bob Heyden, the racing analyst at The Meadowlands Racetrack.

The three-year-old pacing colt will take another attempt at making history tonight when he takes on nine others in the $1.1-million final of the Meadowlands Pace.

The entire standardbred industry is basking in the glow of the media frenzy surrounding Somebeachsomewhere, a colt developed in Truro, N.S. for a group of six Maritime horseowners including Reg Petitpas of Shediac Bridge.

With a victory tonight, the colt would become the first horse ever to win the two richest races for sophomore pacers - the North America Cup and the Meadowlands Pace - while maintaining an unblemished record. He would also surpass the $2.1-million mark in career earnings.

And it seems as though the entire racing community is pulling for Somebeachsomewhere to continue his winning ways.

There's a great deal more at stake than the lucrative purse as the top three-year-old pacers on the continent square off at the one-mile oval in East Rutherford, N.J.

Long regarded as the poorer, less glamorous cousin of the thoroughbred world, the harness racing community struggles to get any mainstream media attention and rarely graces the pages of national newspapers or the airwaves of national networks.

But Somebeachsomewhere's unlikely story has changed all that.

Bought for $40,000 as a yearling, the colt was developed by car dealer Brent MacGrath before being sent to Ontario last summer, where he was trained by Memramcook native Jean-Louis Arsenault. The colt won all six of his starts last season, including a 1:49 3-5 world record - the fastest mile in history by a freshman pacer - in the $1-million Metro Pace at Mohawk Racetrack in Campbellville, Ont.

He would go on to be named two-year old of the year in Canada and the United States - even though he never even set foot south of the border - and was voted co-winner of Canada's O'Brien Award as the overall horse of the year.

He's won his first four starts this year, including the $1.5-million North America Cup at Mohawk Racetrack in June and last week's elimination race for the Meadowlands Pace in a career-best 1:48 3-5.

The colt's exploits were chronicled earlier this week in the New York Times, a publication that hasn't covered a harness racing story in three decades.

If he were to lose tonight, in the biggest media market in North America - à la thoroughbred colt Big Brown - that media frenzy would be over. But a win would surely create an even larger and more enthusiastic following.

And that's something the harness racing industry can use. More exposure. Especially in the Maritimes.

That concept isn't lost on Petitpas.

"That's what we need - good news in the Maritimes," said Petitpas. "And it shows the quality of horsemen we have here and demonstrates that we can develop world champion horses here. It's something that could really catch on."

Somebeachsomewhere was given a month off after his North America Cup triumph and he responded by posting a dominating win last week in his elimination race. Petitpas says it's likely the best is yet to come.

"I don't think anyone has seen his best yet - he hasn't been pushed to his limit yet," said the longtime horseowner. "He's never been tired finishing a mile. He's tighter this week. If all goes right, I expect an even faster mile (tonight)."

Racing fans and the media aren't the only ones paying attention.

Breeding farms are also salivating at the possibility of standing the colt at stud after his racing career.

The partners have publicly stated the colt isn't for sale until he's retired from the racing wars, but that hasn't prevented the offers from flowing. Petitpas acknowledged on Thursday that at least two lucrative offers were made this past week alone. While he preferred not to talk about a specific price, it is rumoured the current bidding is in the $12- to $15-million range.

The Meadowlands Pace is scheduled as Race 8 on tonight's program. The approximate post time is 11:14 p.m. (ADT).