Tonys Mom has been on a form spree at The Meadowlands of late spanning five starts dating back to Dec. 13, but hasn’t had much to show for it as the Per Engblom trainee has gone some troubled trips, coming away with just one win over that period of time while hitting the board on every occasion.
On Saturday, Feb. 22 at The Big M, the trip could not have been any better for the six-year-old daughter of Heston Blue Chip-Donna Lee, leading to an easy score in the $31,429 co-feature, a high-end conditioned pace for fillies and mares.
“Scoring down,” said winning driver Braxten Boyd. “I could tell she was feeling good.”
And it certainly looked that way at show time.
Tonys Mom blasted forward at the start from post six in the eight-horse field and led at the quarter in :27.3. Unlike a week ago, when she went parked past the half before making the lead and getting pressured, this time, Dixie Dream, in search of a second straight score, popped out of the three hole to sprint up to the top at the three-eighths before hitting the half in :56.2.
A pocket trip for Tonys Mom was as good as it gets.
After passing three-quarters in 1:24.4, Dixie Dream was still sailing along on the point, but as soon as Tonys Mom vacated the pocket when the field straightened away for the final three-sixteenths, it became abundantly clear that Tonys Mom would win this for fun, which she did by three widening lengths in 1:51.4. Blood Moon A rallied after a close-to-the-action trip for second while Australian shipper Millwood Bliss N, who was last at the half, rallied explosively along the inside late to get third as the 8-5 favourite making her North American debut.
“Once I got the lead pretty easy,” said Boyd. “I figured [Jason] Bartlett [driving Dixie Dream] would move [to the top], and when I moved [my horse] out of the pocket, she was moving pretty good. She was very good tonight.”
Now with 21 wins from 75 lifetime starts, Tonys Mom upped her earnings to just over $420,000. She paid $7.60 to win as the 5-2 third choice.
‘PRIDE’ SURPRISES: The co-featured trot, also a $31,429 event for high-end conditioned stock, was taken by Busting With Pride, who pulled off a 13-1 upset with Brett Beckwith in the bike.
Outside The Fire, the 8-5 favourite, cut out sensible fractions of :28.2, :57.4 and 1:26.3, but could not carry his speed all the way to the finish. Busting With Pride, a Jackie Greene trainee, found himself very fortunate to pick up a live tow at the five-eighths, and just got up at the wire.
“I know [Busting With Pride] pretty well from Saratoga and Plainridge,” said Beckwith. “He’s just got an unbelievable quarter of a mile in him, but if you kind of race him a little too early, he doesn’t have that same turn of foot.
“Unfortunately, you are kind of stuck with whatever the race gives you. I was fortunate enough. I was sitting fourth on the rail and then the horse that was first over was struggling through the last turn, so as soon as Anibal [Borjas, driving Winter Soldier] moved his, I got to follow and then the rest was history.”
Busting With Pride now has 11 wins from 61 lifetime starts, good for earnings of just over $208,000. A five-year-old gelded son of Resolve-Bustingattheseams, he returned $28.80 to his backers after registering a neck win over Winter Soldier in a lifetime-best 1:53.4. Outside The Fire held third.
LOOK AT THE TIMER: Da Delightful (with Boyd driving) took the seventh race in 1:49.3 while Mad Max Hanover (Beckwith) won the ninth in 1:48.2. They were the first two sub-1:50 miles of 2025 in North America.
A LITTLE MORE: Beckwith is likely to enjoy his plane flight to Orlando tomorrow to collect his 2024 Dan Patch Rising Star Award. The 22-year-old pilot won four races on both Friday and Saturday to climb to second place in The Big M driver standings with 25 victories, three less than leader Bartlett and one more than Dave Miller, who is third. Bartlett and Miller both won twice on Saturday, as did Boyd, who is fourth in the standings with 20 wins. … The 20-cent Survivor Pick-7 put a big smile on someone’s face. After a sequence that saw the winning horses go off at odds of 3-5, 4-5, 4-5, 13-1, 19-1, even-money and 6-5, one shrewd player cashed in for $12,639.90. … All-source handle on the 14-race program totaled $2,950,976. … Live harness racing resumes Friday, Feb. 28 at 6:20 p.m.
(Meadowlands)