After a sparkling 2025 debut that resulted in a fast-closing second-place finish to an ultra-impressive winner last week, all eyes were on Winter Soldier in the $25,362 featured conditioned trot on Friday night, Jan. 10 at The Meadowlands, and the Tony Alagna trainee delivered as the 1-9 favourite in 1:55.1.

“Last week, he was very good. It was my first start with him,” said winning driver Anibal Borjas. “I was pretty nervous because he made a break three weeks before but I qualified him [on Dec. 28] and he was OK.”

That runner-up effort to the standout Ron Burke import, Queen Of America S, was just the right prep for Winter Soldier.

Borjas gave chalk players a bit of a scare early, as he had Winter Soldier sitting seventh to the half, but Party At Seven provided a live tow for the public choice down the backstretch. Winter Soldier then moved three-wide past three-quarters before powering past his helpless foes, hitting the wire an easy length in front of the pacesetting 6-1 second choice, Finite. Voss Blue Chip was third.

Winter Soldier, a four-year-old son of Face Time Bourbon-Jumalay Mass who started only four times during 2024, has been a project for Alagna.

“We made the decision to shut him down mid-summer as he wasn't solid late in the mile,” said Alagna. “He came back very strong, but had a mental block late in the mile and he wasn't usable or he would make a break.

“We added the trotting hopples and let Anibal start driving since he has trained him at home. So far, so good, and, hopefully, we can recoup at four some of the money we had expected to make at three.”

After notching his sixth career win from 18 starts, Winter Soldier now has earnings of $195,542 for owners Peter Alagna of Harrodsburg, Kentucky and Pryde Stables of North York, Ont. He paid $2.20 to win.

Mark Herschberger, who drove four winners on the night to lead the driver colony, was the key to some big payoffs. After he scored with 28-1 shot Paige Perfect in the ninth race, the Early 50-cent Pick-4 returned $5,778.45 while the 20-cent Survivor Pick-7 came back $6,331.08 for those with six correct selections.

Herschberger, Jason Bartlett (three wins), Braxten Boyd (two) and Dave Miller (two) combined to win 11 of the 14 dashes on the card. Bartlett has nine victories over the last two programs.

All-source handle totalled $3,067,913 USD.

Racing resumes on Saturday at 6:20 p.m.

(Meadowlands Racetrack)