EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) Bar Hopping foiled Trotting Triple Crown champion Marion Marauder's chances to add a Breeders Crown to his laurels with a stakes record-equaling 1:51.4 win in the $500,000 race for 3-year-old colts and geldings.
Trained by Jimmy Takter, Bar Hopping finished 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Southwind Frank and paid $3.80 to win with Tim Tetrick in the bike.
It was Takter's 30th win in the Breeders Crown and the 18th for Tetrick.
Marion Marauder was never in contention, finishing 10th and last.
In earlier Crown races for other divisions, the 2-5 heavy favorite Ariana G was the winner and her stable mate Princess Aurora was runner up in the $600,000 Breeders Crown for 2-year-old trotting fillies.
It was a photo finish win in the $600,000 2-year-old colt trot, long-shot Someomensomewhere made driver Marcus Miller a winner in his first Breeders Crown start.
Walner stamped himself as the early favorite for the 2017 Hambletonian with a track- and stakes-record 1:53 win in the $600,000 Crown for 2-year-old trotting colts.
Huntsville came within a fifth of world record, getting to the wire in 1:49.1 to win the $600,000 Crown for juvenile male pacers.
