Southwind Cocoa, a nose winner in the New Jersey Sire Stakes Final, makes her next start in the second of two Marion Dancer divisions on Thursday, September 6 at Freehold Raceway.

Southwind Cocoa, installed as the 2-1 morning-line favourite for the $29,250 division (Race 8), will leave from Post 3 with Jeff Gregory driving for trainer Linda Toscano.

The $30,750 first division of the Marion Dancer for two-year-old New Jersey-sired trotting fillies has been carded as the fifth race. The Marion Dancer is sponsored by the Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association of New Jersey.

Southwind Cocoa got up for a nose victory in the $150,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Final on August 17 at the Meadowlands, trotting the mile in 1:55.3, which equalled the stakes record set by Act Of Grace in 1995.

The Chocolatier filly, a $6,000 Lexington Selected Sale purchase for owner Richard Gutnick of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, has two wins and one third in six starts.

The filly that Southwind Cocoa defeated in the NJSS Final, Time To Kill, drew Post 5 in the other division. She is listed at 9-2 on the morning line with John Campbell driving. The daughter of Muscles Yankee is trained by Ross Croghan.

The early favourite in the first split is Miss Steele, by Muscles Yankee, at 5-2 from Post 3. Andy Miller will be driving the Julie Miller trainee.

Miss Steele has one win, two seconds and one third from six tries, finishing fourth in both the NJSS Final and the final of the Merrie Annabelle. She races for the partnership of the Andy Miller Stable of Millstone, New Jersey; OJ Miller of Humboldt, Illinois and Ontarians Marvin Katz, Al Libfield and Sam Goldband.

The stakes record for the Marion Dancer is 1:59, set by Lovely in 2005.

The program also includes a second-round New Jersey Sire Stakes event for two-year-old trotting colts and geldings. Balanced Budget, by Muscles Yankee, is the 2-1 favourite in the third race, which has a purse of $7,000.

Tuesday’s draw for the Charles Smith for three-year-old New Jersey-sired trotting colts yielded eight entrants, all advancing to next week’s $80,000 final without elims or a prep race. The entrants are: Blomkvist, Kingapore, Kingstone, Map Of Hawaii, Muscolo, New York Muscle, Paper Backed Lindy and World Cup.

The Charles Smith stakes record of 1:55.4 was established in 2010 by Flex The Muscle.

The draw results for the Marion Dancer divisions on Thursday, September 6 are as follows:

Fifth Race -- $30,750 Marion Dancer for 2yo Trotting Fillies
1-Connie Keeper-Muscles Yankee-Jim Marshall III-Chris Freck-10-1
2-Silver Credit-Muscles Yankee-Marcus Johansson-Randy Beeckman-6-1
3-Miss Steele–Muscles Yankee–Andy Miller-Julie Miller-5-2
4-Vida De Vie-Muscles Yankee-Daniel Dube-Chris Ryder -7-2
5-Time To Kill-Muscles Yankee-John Campbell-Ross Croghan-9-2
6-Find The Magic-Chocolatier-Doug Snyder-Dane Snyder-8-1
7-Ninety Five Janet-Muscles Yankee-Cat Manzi-Ron Gurfiein 5-1

Eight Race -- $29,250 Marion Dancer for 2yo Trotting Fillies
1-Southwind Sauna-Muscles Yankee-Cat Manzi-Chuck Sylvester-5-1
2-Fancy Fern Yankee-Muscles Yankee-Andy Miller-Tony Alagna-3-1
3-Southwind Cocoa-Chocolatier-Jeff Gregory- Linda Toscano- 2-1
4-Dream In Chocolate-Chocolatier-DR Ackerman-DR Ackerman-4-1
5-Muscles Secret-Muscles Yankee-Ray Schnittker-Ray Schnittker-6-1
6-Partys On-Chocolatier-Oyvind Hegdal-Oyvind Hegdal-8-1

(SBOANJ)