Bettor Sweet certainly knows how to celebrate a birthday.

The son of Bettor's Delight has started the New Year the way he ended the old one -- posing in the Meadowlands winner's circle. Bettor Sweet -- who shares his New Year's Day birthday with his father -- posted his fourth win in a row last Saturday, pacing his mile in the $33,000 invitational in 1:49.4. That was the same clocking he posted on Dec. 20, when he defeated a field of 3-year-olds to win the $63,500 Oil Burner. This time his nine foes ranged from 5- to 8-year-olds.

FREEHOLD -- Freehold Raceway, the nation's oldest half-mile harness racing track, will cut its overnight purses 25 percent next year because of a decline in wagering handle and overpayment of purses in recent months.

Stakes races scheduled to begin in March will not be affected.

The overnight purses will decline from an average of $52,000 to roughly $36,000.

Somebeachsomewhere has reached the finish line of his 21-race career.

The 3-year-old son of Mach Three who compiled a career record of $3,221,299 was denied a chance to add to that total when he was scratched Monday from a start in the $236,000 Matron Stake at Dover Downs. He was scratched from the event because of a high fever.

The $40,000 yearling purchase had won 20 races in his career during which he set world records (1:46.4) on mile, half-mile and five-eighth's of a mile tracks.

Somebeachsomwhere won one crown Saturday night and is assured of winning another after pacing to his 20th career victory in the $500,000 Breeders Crown for 3-year-olds. Before a crowd of 10,750 fans at the Meadowlands, the son of Mach Three raced to a 1 3/4-length victory over Shadow Play while pacing the mile in 1:48.3.

That impressive mile coupled with the loss of Deweycheatumnhowe in the Crown contest for 3-year-old trotters provided voters all the evidence they needed to cast their ballots for Somebeachsomewhere as Harness Horse of the Year in year-end balloting.

Driver Paul MacDonell wasted no time in sending his colt away from the starting gate and into the lead while his nine rivals dropped in behind him. He took the field to the quarter in :27, the half in :54.3 and the three-quarters in 1:22 before Shadow Play who had stalked him every step of the way moved off the pylons to challenge him. At that point MacDonell said, "I just was thinking, 'Buddy take me home.'"

Somebeachsomewhere ended his racing career by posting his 20th victory Saturday night in the $500,000 Breeders Crown for 3-year-old pacers at the Meadowlands. The victory also assured him of Horse of the Year honors when votes are cast on Dec.13 because Deweycheatumnhowe, the other candidate for that honor, lost in his Breeders Crown contest.

Driver Paul MacDonell sent his son of Mach Three away quickly from the No. 3 post and Shadow Play, his main rival left with him and tucked in behind the leader around the first turn. He took the field through quarters of :27, :54.3 and 1:22.

"I thought 'Take me home from here, buddy,'" MacDonell said about moved around the final turn. And Somebeachsomewhere responded with a :26.3 final quarter to stop the teletimer at 1:48.3.

Fearing for the long-term survival of New Jersey's horse industry, state legislators Tuesday asked Gov. Jon Corzine to help rescue the $1.1 billion business.

State Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) and state Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) asked the governor to create a commission of experts who will find ways for horse-racing to thrive without subsidies from casinos.

In a letter to the governor Tuesday, Codey urged Corzine to form the panel as soon as possible.

"If we don't move quickly, we'll be left in the starting gate while other states race to the prize," Codey said in a prepared statement.

The Big M will not conduct a winter harness meeting next year but instead will race from Jan. 1 through Aug. 21. The track has asked the state racing commission to approve a date meeting that will include a shift of the Hambletonian from the first Saturday in August to Aug. 8, the second Saturday of the month. The Big M has been racing an abbreviated program from mid-November through December since 2002 but raced until mid-August before that.

It switched to the later dates when racing after the Hambletonian drew disappointing turnouts.

Scott Lituchy/The Star-LedgerBig Brown after winning the inaugural running of the $500,000 Monmouth Stakes at Monmouth Park last month.

On Monday, the ride came to a sudden halt.

The racing career of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner ended with an injury to his right front foot. The 3-year-old colt, preparing for the Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 25, had just finished a solid morning run on the turf course at Aqueduct Racetrack when trainer Rick Dutrow spotted blood oozing from the foot. Big Brown apparently had clipped himself "in a bad spot," Dutrow said.

He may be the fastest 3-year-old pacer in the sport's history, but that hasn't frightened the opposition from challenging Art Official in the $551,225 Little Brown Jug. The 63rd edition of the second jewel in pacing's Triple Crown drew 20 entries for Friday afternoon's event at the Delaware (Ohio) County Fair Grounds.

Art Official, who paced his record-1:47 mile in the Meadowlands Pace on July 19, will have to win two heats over the half-mile track to capture the Jug. In two appearances over Freehold Raceway's half-mile track he posted victories in 1:51.1 and a track-record 1:50.4. He was a $35,000 supplementary entry for the Cane Pace, the first jewel in the crown and that win earned him a chance to be supplemented to the Jug for $45,000.

By mid-stretch, trainer Rick Dutrow wasn't merely worried -- he was all but resigned to defeat. Big Brown had gone out fast in the early stages of yesterday's mile and an eighth Monmouth Stakes, and those quick early fractions were starting to exact a toll in the stretch.

At the sixteenth pole, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner looked as if he would be swallowed up by one -- if not both -- of the two proven turf runners coming at him.

One, Silver Tree, a winner of more than $1.7 million on the grass, was charging up the rail.

Next stop: Delaware, Ohio.

That's the home of the Little Brown Jug and that's where Art Official will race next in pursuit of the second jewel in the Triple Crown.

Art Official had not originally been nominated for the Jug, just as he had not been nominated for the Cane Pace, which he won handily on Monday. But the colt had been supplemented for $35,000 to the Cane, the first jewel, and justified trainer Joe Seekman's confidence in him by taking the $196,425 winner's share of the purse.

Driver Ron Pierce has won the venerable Little Brown Jug three times but his chance to do it for the fourth time rests with Art Official, who is currently not nominated for the 63rd edition of the event.
Pierce will be driving Art Official in Monday's $392,850 edition of the Cane Pace at Freehold Raceway. The Cane is the first leg of pacing's Triple Crown and The Jug is the second leg. Art Official, who was supplemented to the Cane for $35,000, earned back $32,731 of that Saturday when he won his elimination heat for the Cane in 1:50.4, breaking the track record as he became the first pacer to race under 1:51 over the half-mile oval.
Now if the 3-year-old son of Art Major wins the final he will earn a chance to be supplemented to the Jug and have a chance to become the sport's first Triple Crown winner since No Pan Intended in 2003. Only the winner of the Cane can be supplemented to the Jug.

Here's an expanded look at the results of Sunday's Haskell Invitational.