The 30-year-old driver, who finished the night third in The Big M driver standings, won six races on Friday’s card and became only the third driver in 2025 to win that many in a single program. He joined some pretty good company. Driver of the Year favorite Jason Bartlett and perennial Big M star Yannick Gingras are the others to pull this trick this year.
On a night when 30-mile-per-hour winds dropped the actual temperature to 75 degrees, Herschberger stayed hot as a gun all night, despite conditions that were less than ideal.
“The headwind was heavy and the whole track felt dead,” Herschberger said.
Maybe he should hope it’s always like this.
Herschberger scored in the third race with Im The Muscle ($12.20 to win) and Miz Captain Cruze ($6) in the fourth for his first two scores of the night. “Joe Putnam, who trains the horse at Hoosier Park, got Bruce Lauer [the horse’s Big M trainer] on the phone and got me the ride to Miz Captain Cruze. The trip went well and she raced phenomenally. A few years ago, Joey and his son told me to stay and race the fair track in Indiana, but six months after I came east they told me what a great idea it was to make the move.
I am the muscle repetition
Herschberger’s six-bagger now finds him with 86 Big M wins this year, good for second in the standings behind Brett Beckwith, who has 110.
The pilot brought his win total to five after scoring with Rock My Universe ($3.60) in seventh, Camlachie Chrome ($6.40) in 11th and Parody ($9.40) in 13th.
His “That’s a half dozen, cousin” moment came in the 14th and final, when Thaneeya ($17.40) got the right trip to complete an all-Herschberger $85 late double.
“I’ve been riding her pretty aggressively lately and it just wasn’t working,” Herschberger said. ‘She was a tough mare to ride, but tonight she found some cover. She seemed to like that.
“When I looked at the card I thought we could make some money. But six winners? I’m absolutely shocked.”
*SAINTHOOD SHOCKER: *Sainthood came off the pace and delivered a bountiful reward the day after Thanksgiving in the Friday night movie, an event for mid-level trotters.
The 22-1 shot got going early and was eighth in the nine-horse field out of the first turn, working his way to a third over-flow around the back before firing home to light up the board to the tune of a $47 winning payout in 1:55.4.
“He’s a very big horse, and big horses tend to do well in the wind,” said winning driver Steve Smith. “There were a few dropouts early, so I was able to come in. No, I wasn’t confident. [at the top of the stretch] but I came late in the race and he came by.”
Sainthood, a four-year-old gelding son of International Moni-Truffles, is a trainee of Joe Pavia Jr. who won for the 11th out of 50 career outings. His lifetime earnings now total $111,110.
*NO MORE:*No winning tickets were sold on the 20-cent Pick-6, creating a carryover of $3,381 for Saturday’s card. Those with five good points collected $15.94. … Veronica Spicer led the trainer colony with a pair of wins. … All sources on the 14-race map totaled $2,296,222. … Racing resumes Saturday at 6:20 p.m
For full race results, click here: American trotting results.
Through Dave Kleinfor The Meadowlands
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