STANDARDBRED BREEDERS & OWNERS ASSOCIATION OF NEW JERSEY

Representing the drivers, trainers, caretakers, breeders and owners of New Jersey

64 Business Route 33

Manalapan, NJ 07726

Phone: 732-462-2357

Fax: 732-409-0741

STANDARDBRED BREEDERS & OWNERS ASSOCIATION OF NEW JERSEY

Representing the drivers, trainers, caretakers, breeders and owners of New Jersey

64 Business Route 33, Manalapan, NJ 07726 

Phone: 732-462-2357 | Fax: 732-409-0741

BACK

VENERATE LOOKS TO REPEAT IN CUTLER MEMORIAL

Ken Weingartner, USTA Media Relations Manager • May 17, 2024

Three horses have repeated as the winner of the Arthur J. Cutler Memorial in its 26-year history. Venerate will look to become the fourth when he meets seven rivals in Saturday’s $145,150 edition of the Grand Circuit event for older trotters at The Meadowlands ...

HIGHTSTOWN, NJ -- May 16, 2024 -- Three horses have repeated as the winner of the Arthur J. Cutler Memorial in its 26-year history. Venerate will look to become the fourth when he meets seven rivals in Saturday’s $145,150 edition of the Grand Circuit event for older trotters at The Meadowlands.


Venerate, a 6-year-old stallion who was a Dan Patch Award winner in 2020, got his season underway last week with a third-place finish in an $18,000 conditioned trot at the Big M. He was timed in 1:52.1 with a :27.3 last quarter over a track labeled sloppy.


“He raced OK; he needed the race,” trainer Marcus Melander said. “He finished up good and hopefully that race will move him forward a lot. I think he’ll be all right.”


Venerate won last year’s Culter Memorial in a career-best 1:50.1. The triumph gave Melander his second victory in the race. Melander, Ake Svanstedt, and Ron Burke will combine to send out six of Saturday’s eight Cutler participants; the trio has won eight of the past 10 editions of the race.


A son of Love You-Peaceful Kemp, Venerate will start from post six with driver Scott Zeron and is the 7-2 morning-line second choice. Returning Dan Patch Award winner Jiggy Jog S, the lone mare in the field, is the 2-1 favorite.


Venerate will try to join Resolve (2016-17), Sand Vic (2006-07) and Magician (2000-01) as a repeat winner of the Cutler.


“We know when he’s good that he can go with them,” Melander said about Venerate taking on the top horses in the division. “I’m excited to see him.”


Last year, Venerate won the Cutler and followed that performance with second-place finishes behind It’s Academic in the Crawford Farms Open and John Cashman Memorial. He made a break in his next start, the Maple Leaf Trot, and never regained his form.


“It just felt like we got on the wrong page with him after Canada and never got him back,” Melander said.

Venerate did stallion duty during the winter, with frozen semen sent to breeders overseas. He returned to training in early February.


“He’s been training good ever since,” Melander said.


For his career, Venerate has won 12 of 41 races and earned $1.12 million. He is owned by Courant Inc., Holly Lane Stud East LTD, Kemppi Stables Oy Inc., and Venerate Partners.


Melander also will send 5-year-old stallion Periculum into the Cutler. Periculum raced overseas last season but was a multiple Grand Circuit winner at ages 2 and 3 in North America. He earned $308,733 as a sophomore, when his mark of 1:50.3 tied for fourth fastest among 3-year-old male trotters.


Periculum, owned by Brixton Medical Inc. and Holly Lane Stud East, won a $12,500 conditioned trot at Mohegan Pennsylvania’s Pocono Downs on May 7 in his seasonal debut. The son of Muscle Hill-Amour Heiress will start Saturday from post three with Mattias Melander in the sulky and is 10-1 on the morning line.

“He’s a little bit of an outsider in his first race against these horses here, but we know he has potential,”

Melander said. “He had the speed as a 3-year-old. I think he’s fast enough to go against these horses. It will be interesting to see how he races against them now.”


Jiggy Jog S, who received last year’s Dan Patch Award for best older female trotter, will make her seasonal debut in the Cutler Memorial. Last year, she finished no worse than second in all 11 of her races, winning eight and earning $1.03 million. For her career, the daughter of Walner-Hot Mess Hanover has hit the board in 30 of 35 starts, winning 18 and banking $2.16 million.


A mare has won the Cutler four times in the past nine years. Those champions were Bee A Magician in 2015, Hannelore Hanover in 2018, Atlanta in 2020, and Manchego in 2021.


Jiggy Jog S is one of three Svanstedt horses in the Cutler, along with Southwind Tyrion (4-1) and Asteroid (10-1). Those two 6-year-olds also are making their seasonal debuts. Southwind Tyrion was a Breeders Crown winner in 2023.


Svanstedt, the 2023 Trainer of the Year, has won the Cutler four times since arriving in the U.S. from Sweden and launching his stable in 2014.


The Cutler Memorial will air on Fox Sports 2 as part of a 9-11 p.m. (EDT) broadcast on the network.


In addition to the Cutler, Karl, the early favorite for the 99th edition of the Hambletonian, will be in the spotlight as the team at Fox will not only air his New Jersey Sire Stakes race on the show, but also begin to chronicle the Nancy Takter trainee’s road to the $1 million Hambo, which takes place on Aug. 3.


Karl is the 1-5 morning-line favorite in his $30,000 division of the NJSS, the second of three second-round splits for 3-year-old male trotters. There also will be three $30,000 second-round divisions of NJSS action for sophomore female trotters.


Racing begins at 6:20 p.m. (EDT) at The Meadowlands. For free TrackMaster programs for the Big M, click here.

By Dave Little, Meadowlands Media Relations August 24, 2025
Busy Miss Lissy S put up a fourth win in as many starts as the Ake Svanstedt trained and driven daughter of Calgary Games-Hill’s Angel S took a $25,000 division of the third leg of the Kindergarten Series for 2-year-old filly trotters in 1:57 Saturday night at The Meadowlands ...
By Meadowlands Media Relations August 21, 2025
For a second straight week, the usual two-day-a-week racing schedule at The Meadowlands will be cut in half due to preseason football at MetLife Stadium, as there will be no live action this Friday (Aug. 22) before a 15-race program takes place on Saturday (Aug. 23) ...
By Courtney Stafford August 20, 2025
The SBOANJ is proud to announce the 2025 - 2026 New Jersey Incentive Programs. The Incentive Programs include breeders awards, New Jersey sired owner awards, and the Resident Mare Rebates ...
By the U.S. Harness Writers Association August 19, 2025
The United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA), in conjunction with the Harness Racing Hall of Fame, is pleased to announce the election of Dr. John Egloff, Marvin Katz, and David Reid to the greatest honor in the industry, membership to the Hall of Fame ...
By Ken Weingartner, USTA Media Relations Manager August 18, 2025
Warrawee Michelle won Saturday’s $100,000 Grade 3 Sebastian K Invitational for older trotters at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania in 1:50, becoming the fastest 4-year-old trotter ever on a five-eighths-mile track and giving trainer Ake Svanstedt his third consecutive victory in the event named after one of his former stars ...
By Ken Weingartner, USTA Media Relations Manager August 17, 2025
Captain Albano and driver Todd McCarthy went to the front and never looked back, winning Saturday’s $100,000 Grade 3 Always B Miki Invitational by a half-length over Coaches Corner in 1:48.2 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania. Ken Hanover finished third ...
More Posts