Marion Marauder one leg away from the trotting Triple Crown

Marion Marauder will begin his quest to complete the Trotting Triple Crown from post 11 when he faces 11 rivals in Sunday’s $431,000 Kentucky Futurity for 3-year-old trotters at the Red Mile. He is the 5-2 morning line favorite.

The Kentucky Futurity is the final jewel in this year’s Trotting Triple Crown, following August’s Hambletonian and September’s Yonkers Trot, which were both won by Marion Marauder. The colt is attempting to become the ninth trotter to win the Triple Crown. The most recent horse to sweep the three races was Glidemaster in 2006.

Marion Marauder was not staked to the Kentucky Futurity, but his connections made a supplemental payment of $47,261 to enter the event. Marion Marauder is trained by the wife-and-husband team of Paula Wellwood and Mike Keeling. The colt is co-owned by the couple’s son Devin Keeling and Wellwood’s mother Jean.

Scott Zeron will drive Marion Marauder. The 27-year-old Zeron would become the youngest driver to win a Triple Crown in harness racing history.

“I’m grateful to just have a horse like him to take me on this kind of trip,” Zeron said of Marion Marauder, who has won nine of 12 races this year and earned $1.25 million. “He’s a pleasure to drive. He makes me confident when I’m out there with him. I just have to put him in a spot to have a chance to win the race. That’s really my only job, he does the rest.”

The Kentucky Futurity field also includes Southwind Frank, who won the Colonial Trot by a half-length over Marion Marauder on Aug. 20 and was second by a nose to Marion Marauder in the Hambletonian, as well as Bar Hopping, who has won three consecutive races including the Canadian Trotting Classic by 3  1/2 lengths over Marion Marauder on Sept. 17.

This story was originally published October 8, 2016 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Marion Marauder one leg away from the trotting Triple Crown."