Perfidious Crown didn’t make much of a ripple in the water a year ago, as the then two-year-old battled ankle problems during a season in which she went zero-for-six with three third-place finishes.
But this far, during her three-year-old campaign, all has gone well for the Tony Alagna trainee.
“Being a daughter of Treacherous Reign and first-crop Tall Dark Stranger, we had high expectations,” said Alagna. “But she just went through normal two-year-old bone remodelling in her hind ankles and we just had to wait on her. She’s finally putting it all together and I can see her being an Open mare in the future.”
In the Friday, Dec. 5 feature at The Meadowlands, a mid-range conditioned event for fillies and mares on the pace, Perfidious Crown notched her second straight win at the mile oval with ease. Her resume said she could go with this group, having raced earlier this season in the Pennsylvania Stallion Series, as well as a James Lynch consolation.
Perfidious Crown and driver Anibal Borjas popped out of three-hole at the five-eighths and sailed past even-money favourite Wunderkindbluechip (Mitchell Cushing) on the turn before hitting the wire an easy 1-3/4-length winner in 1:52. Twin B Sunkissed (Joe Bongiorno) was second with Laurie Lee (Jacob Cutting) third.
“She is feeling really good now,” said Borjas. “I think she likes it here [at The Meadowlands]. We believe she’s a nice filly. My plan was to leave a little and let [A Few Choice Words] go after I saw her coming [at the quarter]. I then wanted to see if anybody was coming before I pulled out [at the five-eighths]. My plan was to first-over on the last turn.”
Perfidious Crown now has five wins from just 16 lifetime starts. She is owned by Let It Ride Stables of Boca Raton, Florida, Alagna Racing of Jackson, New Jersey and Big Als Stables of Woodbridge, Ont.
As the 7-2 second choice in the wagering, she returned $9.20 to win.
After racking up five winners on Thursday night, Brett Beckwith again led the driver colony Friday, this time with three jaunts down victory lane. The 22-year-old reinsman now has 118 wins at The Big M this year, 28 more than Mark Herschberger, who is second in the standings. Tom Cancelliere doubled up to top the trainers on Friday night.
All-source betting on the 14-race card totalled $2,393,877 USD.
Racing resumes on Saturday at 6:20 p.m.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)