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Sports

East Windsor's Jimmy Takter Falls Short of Hambo Dream

Three-peat wasn't in the cards for Pastor Stephen.

East Windsor’s Jimmy Takter must wait another year for another chance at his third Hambletonian crown.

Pastor Stephen, trained by Takter and driven by three-time Hambletonian winner and hall-of-famer Ron Pierce, finished fifth with a time of 1:54.1 in Saturday’s 86th edition of the $1.5 million-dollar Hambletonian at The Meadowlands in East Rutherford.

Broad Bahn, won harness racing’s most prestigious crown behind driver George Brennan and trainer Noel Daley, both first-time winners, by 3 ¼ lengths in a time of 1:53.0. Whiskey Tax finished second and Opening Night finished third.

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Ole Bach, who is the business agent for Broad Bahn’s owner, Leif Alber, is also a resident of East Windsor.

“It looked like all day the front end didn't hold up, every horse that took the front end today got beat and I was extremely worried that I didn't even dare tell him (Alber) that the front end didn't hold up,” said Bach. “When I saw the :56 ½ mile I said ‘Thank God.’  The Hambletonian people couldn't have picked it any better with the buttons they gave us, he's a big locomotive and he kept the steam going.”

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Brennan completed the sweep of the Hambletonian double, by winning the Hambo Oaks a race earlier aboard Bold And Fresh, in a time of 1:53.1. Brian Sears is the last driver to win the Hambo and the Hambo Oaks on the same day, winning with Broadway Schooner (Hambo Oaks) and Muscle Hill (Hambo) in 2009.

Pastor Stephen, who drew the unlucky 10th post position on Tuesday and had morning-line odds of 10-1, went off at 12-1.

“The 10th post position is just basically impossible,” said Takter, who has lived in East Windsor and has trained horses at his complex, Millennium Farm, for the past 10 years with the help of his wife Christina, who handles the business side of the stable. “He had to go some murder mile and just had to be outstanding today, but to finish in fifth in a 10-horse field from where we started is really very good.”

Not all is lost however.

Pastor Stephen is named after the Takter family’s church pastor, the Rev. Stephen Heinzel-Nelson. The Takter family, along with fellow owners John Fielding and Brittany Farms, have pledged to donate 5 percent of the horse’s earnings this season to benefit Villages in Partnership, an organization founded by the pastor and his wife, Liz, to assist the people of Malawi in Africa.

By finishing fifth, Pastor Stephen collected $75,000 for his efforts.

The fundraising effort, called Pastor Stephen Racing for Africa, brings assistance on a wide range of projects, from building clean water wells, to constructing new schools and medical clinics and starting agricultural improvements and reforestation efforts.

Pastor Stephen, who finished third in his Hambo elim last Saturday with a time of 1:53.1 to qualify, has had eight starts this season with three victories, two seconds and one third-place finish.

“I’m thinking about racing him at Chester Downs in three weeks, but we shall see,” said Takter, who won last year’s Hambo with Muscle Massive and Pierce aboard.

Earlier in the day, Takter won the $400,000 Peter Haughton Memorial Final by 3 ½ lengths with 28-1 long shot Weingartner, driven by his brother Johnny and named after Harness Racing Communications’ media relations director Ken Weingartner, paying a whopping $58.60, 22.20 and 10.40.

And yes you guessed it, Ken is also a native of East Windsor.

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