Hambletonian Day could have been called “Brian Sears Day,” as the top driver turned the Oaks-Hambletonian double for the second time in his career Saturday afternoon at Meadowlands Racetrack.
Royalty For Life (the 4-5 favorite) gave Sears his second victory in the $1 million Hambletonian while 1-5 favorite Bee A Magician took the $500,000 Hambletonian Oaks.
Sears knew the front end was the place to be, putting the George Ducharme-trainee Royalty For Life on the lead and refusing to yield to Smilin Eli (7-2) and driver Tim Tetrick.
“I used him hard and was very aggressive out of the gate,” Sears said.
Through a half in 55 seconds and three-quarter time in 1:23 3/5, Sears increased his advantage, crossing the wire in 1:52 1/5 by 3¹/ lengths over Smilin Eli. Corky was third.
“I never ever thought I’d be in this spot being a little guy from Massachusetts training a bunch of homebreds and to turn out to be like this is just amazing,” said Ducharme, who is now one-for-one in the Hambletonian.
Royalty For Life paid $3.60 to win.
Earlier, Sears made sure Bee A Magician continued her 3-year-old unbeaten streak easily winning the Oaks in a stakes record 1:51 4/5 by 3 ¹/ lengths over Classic Martine (15-1). To Dream On was third.
Sears sat fifth at the rail with the Nifty Norman trainee past the quarter in :26 4/5.
Sears moved Bee A Magician after the quarter and comfortably had the lead before the half. The half time went in :54 1/5 while the three-quarter time was 1:22 3/5.
“Those were some pretty big numbers, 1:22 3/5, when we were going over to the three-quarter pole,” Sears said. “I was like, geez, she gets over the ground so easy you don’t realize you’re going that fast.”
Once again, Sears increased his lead on the field crossing the line by the same margin of victory as in the Hambo.
“She does it real easy, but I was asking her down the lane. You can’t take anything for granted,” Sears said.
Bee A Magician returned $2.40 to win.
This was back-to-back Oaks victories for Sears, who won last year with Personal Style.
In 2009, Sears won his first Oaks-Hambo double on same day with Broadway Schooner and Muscle Hill.