Trainer Richard “Nifty” Norman will send the two morning-line favorites to Saturday’s inaugural Garden State Trot events for two-year-olds at the Meadowlands Racetrack, with Evident Beauty the 2-1 choice in the $55,000 race for fillies and Reign Of Honor getting the 2-1 nod in the $50,000 race for colts and geldings. David Miller will drive both.

Evident Beauty, a daughter of Trixton out of Struck By Lindy, has won three of seven races and finished worse than second only once for Ontario-based owners Mel Hartman and R A W Equine, who co-own with Little E LLC. She heads to the Garden State off back-to-back stakes wins at Lexington’s Red Mile, most recently on October 5 in a division of the International Stallion.

She was pointed toward last month’s Breeders Crown at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, but came up sick and was unable to participate. While disappointing initially, Norman said it might have been a blessing.

“I don’t think she would have been competitive with (Breeders Crown winner) Woodside Charm or (runner-up) When Dovescry,” Norman said. “I think she’s a better horse on a big track. She’s more of a closer-type horse, so it would have been hard for her to get into that race.

“She seems good again now. She’s been good ever since we started racing her. This week will be a good lead-up race for the Goldsmith Maid (an upcoming Grand Circuit race for two-year-old filly trotters at the Meadowlands). We’ll see how she is. But if she finishes like she normally does I think she will be fine.”

In addition to her wins at Red Mile, Evident Beauty won a division of the Tompkins-Geers Stakes at Tioga Downs. In her start prior to her two wins in Lexington, she finished second to The Ice Dutchess in the Peaceful Way Stakes. She has earned $204,206 this season.

“She’s been good ever since we started racing her,” Norman said.

But she was not much for trotting prior to that point, Norman added.

“We’ve always liked her, but she galloped all winter,” he said. “I couldn’t get her to stay flat for love or money. We took her to the qualifiers and she just turned it around. I think a lot of that was getting off the five-eighths (training track) and getting onto the big track.”

Norman is hoping Evident Beauty can finish the year with strong performances in the Garden State and Goldsmith Maid.

“If she’s as good as she was in Lexington, she will be pretty competitive,” Norman said. “She’s a nice filly.”

Reign Of Honor enters the Garden State for two-year-old male trotters off a win in the Kindergarten Classic Series championship on November 3 at the Meadowlands. It was the gelding’s first victory in 10 starts.

“He’s the favourite off of last week, I guess, but he’s been a little bit tricky up until then,” Norman said. “He’s always had good speed, but he’s always been a little bit immature, a little bit silly. He’s got natural speed, which is a big plus. He’s always had a good gait and he’s a sound horse. It just took him a while to work out.”

Norman began racing the horse with hobbles three starts ago, which seemed to help. Prior to putting on the hobbles, Reign Of Honor went off stride in three of his previous four races.

“He had them on before, I trained him with them, and didn’t seem to make much difference to him,” Norman said. “But I put the hobbles back on and we tightened them up a little bit and it seemed to get his confidence back. He was much better.”

Reign Of Honor is a son of Father Patrick out of Margarita Momma. He has earned $154,133 for owners Deo Volente Farms, Jennifer Dalton Stable, and Tom Pontone.

Live harness racing begins at 7:15 p.m. (EST) Saturday. For complete entries, click the following link: Saturday Entries - The Meadowlands.

(with files from USTA)