Three $54,054 stakes took place at Freehold Raceway on Thursday, Sept. 19 -- the Homegrown for three-year-old filly pacers and two divisions of the Garden State for three-year-old filly trotters.

There was a 31-1 upset in the Homegrown as Celcius was a winner in a career-best 1:53.4. After the wings folded and the horses settled into position, Celsius and Joe Bongiorno sat second behind the 2-5 favourite, Miraculous Deo. Coming out of the third turn on the half-mile track, Bongiorno positioned Celcius to move first-over around the leader, who seemed to be losing steam. They cleared to the lead just as the field turned for home and paced on to win it by 4-1/2 lengths. Per Engblom trains the Lazarus N-Freeze Out filly for William Shults. A win bet on the longshot paid $64.40.

The Ron Coyne Jr. trainee, Eloise, had a dominant victory as the 2-5 favourite in the first division of the Garden State. After settling in second from post two in the first turn, Eloise took over the top spot by the time they reached the quarter pole. The Tactical Landing-Tuvalu filly went on to set the pace from there and maintained the lead all the way past the wire with regular driver Corey Callahan. The mile time was 1:56.3. Eloise is owned by Ron Coyne Stables Inc., Blair Corbeil, Richard Carney and Farrell Carney.

The second division of the Garden State was won by the favourite as well. Frederick Hertrich III's homebred Buy A Round scored at 1-5 odds for trainer Noel Daley with Andrew McCarthy in the sulky. Her competitors didn’t make it easy for her, though. She got away fourth from post two where she sat until the field approached the third quarter pole. McCarthy kept the Walner-On Your Tab filly on the helmet of John Ahle and Southwind Banshee, who pulled from third into the outer flow. McCarthy followed his cover until they entered the stretch and then stepped by to win in a head decision in 1:56.2.

Also on the card were two $13,514 divisions of the first leg of the New Jersey Sire Stakes Standardbred Development Fund three-year-old trot for colts and geldings. Ron Burke swept both divisions. His first win was with Seven Reps (Muscle Hill-Sette Deo), who earned his second win in a row after claiming victory in the Garden State Trot last week, both times with Austin Siegelman in the bike. The time for the mile was 1:56.1. Hankins Hanover (Walner-Hall Of A Dream) and Corey Callahan claimed the other division as the 9-5 second choice in a time of 1:56.3.

Stakes action continues at Freehold on Friday and Saturday with post time at 12:30 p.m. 

(With files from Freehold Raceway)