Triple Crown winner No Pan Intended returns to Freehold Raceway Saturday

No Pan Intended, the 10th standardbred to win the Pacing Triple Crown, headlines the field for Saturday’s $275,000-estimate James B. Dancer Memorial Pace at Freehold Raceway.

Driven by David Miller, No Pan Intended will return to the site where his Triple Crown began — Freehold Raceway. It all started for the 3-year-old with his win in the Cane Pace over Labor Day weekend. The son of Pacific Fella went on to claim the Little Brown Jug (Delaware Fairgrounds, Ohio) and the Messenger Stakes (the Meadows, Pittsburgh, Pa.) to become the 10th pacer to sweep all three of the Triple Crown races. The last pacer to do it was Blissfull Hal in 1999.

The Dancer Memorial, named for the patriarch of the famed New Egyptian harness racing family, has had a rich and historic past since its inaugural race in 1976. Many of harness racing’s greatest champions, including Niatross (a Triple Crown winner in 1980), have competed in this race, which has become one of the nation’s top races for sophomore colts.

The first Dancer Memorial, in 1976, featured a big upset when Windshield Wiper beat the eventual Harness Horse of the Year, Keystone Ore. It was not the only upset in the rich tradition of this race. No Pan Intended could possibly suffer the same fate as Keystone Ore on Saturday.

Hall of Fame driver Cat Manzi, one of the regulars at Freehold Raceway, began this week with 9,995 career wins. With five more wins, he will become just the third driver in history to collect 10,000 wins. Herve Filion and Walter Case Jr. are the only other drivers in the exclusive club.