Custom and American Power won a pair of $14,085 opening leg divisions of the New Jersey Standardbred Development Fund Stakes for two-year-old trotters on Friday, Nov. 7 at Meadowlands Racetrack.
Custom, at 10-1 odds with Jonathan Ahle in the sulky, out-sprinted her favoured Per Engblom stablemate, 6-5 choice Wishuponastar Deo (Jason Bartlett), as she closed off her barnmate's back from fourth in 27 seconds to win the filly division in 1:53.2. Custom paid $23.80 for the upset win. Madam Cheval (Scott Zeron) settled for third after cutting fractions of :27.2, :56.3 and 1:25.3.
Custom dropped more than three seconds off her lifetime mark following up on her maiden score last week at Pocono Downs. The Walner-Goldy Mary Fr filly, a $243,056 yearling purchase from the 2024 Standardbred Horse Sale, is now two-for-seven to start her career with earnings at $22,905 for owner Thomas Lind-Holm of Skive, Denmark.
In the colt and gelding division, American Power, driven by Braxten Boyd for conditioner Marcus Melander, held off the favoured Engblom trainee, Trillion Times (Bartlett), prevailing by three-quarters of a length in 1:55 flat. First to the front in a :28.1 quarter, American Power gave way to early pocket-popper Jim Beam (Scott Zeron) through middle splits of :57.3 and 1:27 before getting the jump on 6-5 favourite Trillion Times, who closed from third at the pylons, in a :27.4 final quarter sprint. Jim Beam was third. American Power paid $5.30 as the 8-5 second choice.
Also sired by Walner, American Power is out of the U.S. Hall of Fame mare Ariana G. A $405,405 yearling purchase from the Lexington Selected Sale, he's won three of his last four races to boost his earnings to $82,982 through 10 career starts for owner M Biasuzzi Stable of Pompano Beach, Florida.
Overcoming a track that was extremely unfriendly to horses racing on the front end, Simply Perfect made it to the lead while parked out at the half in :55.2 before going on to an easy score in the overnight feature, $17,606 mid-range conditioned pace for fillies and mares. The three-year-old daughter of Captaintreacherous-Stacia Hanover opened up some separation on the field at three-quarters, which was timed in 1:23.2, and was an easy winner from there, hitting the wire 1-1/4 lengths in front of 6-5 favourite Take Your Pick (Braxten Boyd) and TH Summer Lovin (Patrick Ryder). The time for the mile was 1:50.4, a lifetime best.
“It was my first time driving her,” said winning driver Mark Herschberger. “She really did keep going first up [to the half] and it looked like we could get there pretty easy.”
Sent to the gate as the 5-1 third choice in the eight-horse field, Simply Perfect returned $13.80 to her backers after winning for the fifth time in 23 career outings to lift her earnings over the $200,000 mark.
Herschberger and Boyd led the driver colony on Friday night with a pair of wins apiece.
There were no winning tickets sold on the 20-cent Pick-6, creating a carryover of $2,397 for Saturday’s program. The Pick-6 will be offered on races seven through 12.
All-source handle on the 13-race program totalled $2,171,119 USD.
Racing resumes on Saturday at 6:20 p.m.
(Standardbred Canada & Meadowlands Racetrack; photo of Custom winning on Nov. 7)