us, OH --- Melvin "Wayne" Givens and Niel Gargiulo put up $30,000 to claim Winbak Speed from a race at Dover Downs one year ago. As it turned out, they bought themselves an accomplished pacer, who returned their investment many times over -- and swept the Presidential Pacing Series during January at the Meadowlands.

In addition, he earned Horse of the Month honors for January from the U.S. Trotting Association.

The 6-year-old son of Village Jove began January with a 1:50.2 victory in a $35,000 Invitational pace at The Meadowlands, which served as the perfect tune-up for the rich Presidential Series, contested over three weeks over the same surface.

Winbak Speed won, with ease, a pair of $50,000 series preliminaries, which made him the 4-5 favorite for the $125,000 Presidential Final on Jan. 24.

He did not disappoint; he made a move on the backstretch at the urging of driver Ron Pierce and then fought off a late challenge from Western Shore to win in 1:51.2.

“He was pretty nice when we claimed him,” co-owner and trainer Wayne Givens said in a recent interview with The Meadowlands’ Publicity Department. “He won his first three starts for us and moved up to win the Junior Open class. He turned out to be one of my best horses last year. He has been impressive at the Meadowlands so far.

“I’m sure a lot of people don’t train them the way I do. I give him a lot of time off the track and I train him a mile and a half, instead of training him two trips. We’ve got some ambitious plans for him. If he keeps doing as well as he’s doing, we’ll nominate him to the Graduate, the (William) Haughton, and the U.S. Pacing Championship.”

The owners and trainers of horses in the Free For All pacing ranks have thus been put on notice: Winbak Speed will be the one to beat in the coming weeks.