Trainer Tony Alagna knows Breeders Crown champion Stay Hungry will race in next week’s Governor’s Cup final and he hopes to send the colt some company for the event.
Alagna-trained American History and Captain Deo are among the two-year-old male pacers in Saturday’s single Governor’s Cup elimination at the Meadowlands Racetrack. The top nine horses from the $20,000 elimination will join Stay Hungry in the $411,700 final on November 25 at the ‘Big M.’ Stay Hungry received a bye based on earnings.
The Governor’s Cup is part of the ‘Fall Final Four,’ four stakes for two-year-old pacers and trotters. Saturday’s card also includes single $20,000 eliminations for next week’s $464,650 Valley Victory for male trotters, the $420,750 Goldsmith Maid for trotting fillies and the $381,200 Three Diamonds for pacing fillies.
Post time is 7:15 p.m. (EST) for the night’s first race.
Fourth Dimension is the 3-1 morning-line favorite in the elimination for the Valley Victory, where Samo Different Day received a bye. Basquiat is the 3-1 choice in the Goldsmith Maid elimination (bye to Hey Blondie) and Kissin In The Sand is the 2-1 pick in the Three Diamonds elimination (byes to Youaremycandygirl, Majorsspeciallady, and Rainbow Room).
Elimination winners will draw for posts one through six for their respective finals. All other finalists will be in an open draw.
American History, undefeated in three races since launching his career a month ago, is the 7-2 second morning line choice for the Governor’s Cup elimination. He will start from Post 9 with driver Yannick Gingras. Metro Pace winner Lost In Time, now in the stable of trainer Jimmy Takter, is the 3-1 early favourite from Post 10.
Captain Deo, who has a win in three starts and was second to American History in his most recent race, is 15-1 from Post 3 with driver Joe Bongiorno.
“Both colts just needed a little time,” Alagna said about their late starts to the season. “We were high on them all along and they trained down with Stay Hungry and Key Advisor and our better colts.
“So far (American History) has put it together on the racetrack. I sure wish he’d drawn better, but I’ll leave it up to Yannick.
“(Captain Deo) I thought came up a little short the other night, but he was used pretty good getting out of there so I think that’s why he was a little flat on the end of it. He scoped clean, his blood work was good, and he trained back good. Hopefully with a trip he’ll fire right back.”
Alagna anticipated a bye for Stay Hungry, so he had the horse in a qualifier last Saturday at the Meadowlands. The colt won in 1:53.
“We got a good work into him last weekend,” Alagna said. “I’ll train him a pretty good trip on Saturday and he’ll be fit going into the final.”
In addition to sending horses to the Governor’s Cup, Alagna will have Missle Hill in the Valley Victory elimination. Missle Hill was third in his Breeders Crown elimination and seventh in the final, when he started from Post 8. He is 15-1 on the morning line for the Valley Victory elim and will start from Post 3 with driver Peter Wrenn.
“He’s shown in the last couple starts he can go with the better colts when he gets a decent shot,” Alagna said. “He had bad luck in the Breeders Crown and just got away too far back. But he showed good trot on the end of it. If he races as good as he did in his elimination of the Breeders Crown he can get some money.”
The sport’s top pacing mares also will be in action Saturday, competing in the final preliminary round of the TVG Series. Nike Franco N is the 5-2 morning-line favourite. Alagna’s Bedroomconfessions is 5-1. The five-year-old mare has won 20 of 77 career races and earned $952,754. She was second to Pure Country in the Breeders Crown Mare Pace.
“She’s had a solid career,” Alagna said. “Every year she shows up and does her work and puts a couple hundred thousand on her card. She’s almost to a million dollars, and for a homebred, we’re tickled to death with that. Hopefully she races as well as she did in (the Breeders Crown) because she was excellent.
“After this year we’ll most likely breed her to (Captaintreacherous). That’s been our plan all along. We always hoped we could get her to a million dollars, but if we didn’t it wasn’t the end of the world. It would be a nice feather in her cap because she’s earned it. She got a new lifetime mark (1:48.4) this year. She deserves it.”
For Saturday’s complete Meadowlands entries, click here.
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.