Giant Chill - 2CT

In 1991, after 15 years of trying to grab the brass ring in harness racing, Jacquie & Ted Gewertz and their partners, Stan and Steve Robins, seized it firmly in both hands. Now it ,appears they won't let go. The Gewertzes have come close before, as co-owners of champion trotting mare Davidia Hanover, but it was three-year-old colt trotter Giant Victory who finally took the group to the apex they'd been seeking. The son of Super Bowl won the Hambleton Ian and Breeders Crown, Trotter of the Year honors. and now stands stallion duty beside his sire at Hanover Shoe Farms.

Armed with Giant Victory's substantial bankroll, the Gewertzes and Robins' went yearling shopping. Since the four partners are also avid New York. Football Giant fans, they rename all their performers with a "Giant" prefix. Their $135,000 yearling purchase named Cajun Crown, out of Speedy Crown-Chili Bowl, acquired the moniker of Giant Chill and became the new star of trainer Per Eriksson's stable. Giant Chill, driven by the taciturn John Patterson, Jr., won the Peter Haughton Memorial before succumbing to a throat infection that subsequently kept his schedule light for the remainder of the stakes season.

Per Eriksson has accomplished a tremendous amount in harness racing for someone just over 30-years-old. The Swedish native has trained the winners of three Hambletonians and five Breeders Crowns, and ranks fifth overall in the Crown trainer standings. Eriksson won this Crown division in 1991 with King Conch, making that freshman trotter the favorite for the Hambletonian, and he was about to set the same stage again. Aside from Giant Chill, Eriksson also ent11red Dylan Lobell, a half-sister to the Eriksson-trained 1989 Crown winner Delphi's Lobell.

Continental Farms, a Swedish driving/training conglomerate that dominated the trotting world throughout the '80s, currently tops the Breeders Crown standings with more than $3 million in Crown purses earned by their diagonally-gaited representatives. Though Jan Johnson and Berndt Lindstedt have scaled back. their operation, they had three colts entered in the freshman trot. Italian reinsmen Pietro Gubellini would drive Durkin Lobell for Scuderia Barbara, Lindstedt would handle Arden Homestead's Glenmorangie, runner-up to Giant Chill in the Peter Haughton Memorial, and Johnson took command of Cool Prince for owner Tomas Bertmark. Johan Diedan·s King Lavee was made second favorite on the basis of his three win in his last five starts. Driver/trainer Jimmy Takter, son of the legendary Swedish horseman Bo Takter, was still seeking his first Breeders Crown title.

The continent of North American was represented by Bob Key's Hi Noon Star, Segal and Monieson's Capital Star, and the Canadian-owned Promising Catch. Walter Belanger, owner of the brilliant trotter Napoletano, who spoiled Mack Lobells bid for the Triple Crown, owned Promising Catch with Marcell Lacaille and Jean Pierre Dubois of France.

From post three, Patterson really never had an anxious moment. He eased Giant Chill away from the gate, was unchallenged for the front end and was able to rate moderate fractions of :29.2, 1 :00 and 1 :29.1, ensuring an easy 1 :58.2 victory. Patterson, runner-up in the last two Hambletonians, claimed his rightful place in the Crown winners circle for the first time. As the regular driver of Giant Chill, who instantly became the favorite for the 1993 Hambletonian, Patterson will hope to make the third time a charm.

Eriksson can now lay claim to three of the six trotting Crown championships, and will seek his third Hambletonian in as many years. Capital Star, who had been trotting in second, galloped at the three-quarter pole and was disqualified to eighth for failing to lose ground. Durkin Lobell, comfortable along the rail for most of the mile, was tipped out mid-stretch lo trot strongly for second. King Lavee used Promising Catch as cover to obtain a good trip and was able to rally for third.

Giant Chill was an easy decision for divisional title voters. Ted & Jacquie Gewertz and the Robins Racing Stable were back in the enviable position as reigning favorite for harness racing's most coveted race, and sat out the winter content with a covey of new yearlings, all needing "Giant" surnames.

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