Tony Alagna is listed as the trainer of older pacer Foreign Officer, but in reality it might be the other way around; Foreign Officer has trained Alagna
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Talented, but quirky, Foreign Officer has won four of 10 races this year and earned $111,710. Prior to this season, he won six of 27 races and earned $213,607. The now-gelded four-year-old has been racing in the George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series at Yonkers Raceway, where he is fifth in the standings.
Foreign Officer starts from Post 4 in his fifth Levy preliminary leg Saturday at Yonkers. He won in the opening and fourth rounds, finished third and fourth in the other two legs. The $495,000 final is April 30.
“He had a good start the other night,” said Alagna, referring to Foreign Officer’s 1:54.2 win over a sloppy track on April 16. “It was a miserable night, but I was really happy with the way he raced. He came first up and showed a little grit on a bad night.”
Alagna has been around Foreign Officer for much of his career, first as an assistant with the Erv Miller Stable and now on his own. Foreign Officer won a division of the Niatross Stakes as a two-year-old and captured the $100,000 consolation of the Meadowlands Pace with a 1:49.4 victory last season.
Current owners David Rovine, J.L. Benson Stables, Ottawa's Melvin Hartman and the Foreign Officer Partners purchased the horse for $150,000 at the Tattersalls Select Mixed Sale in January at the Meadowlands.
“When I approached the partners about buying the horse, I told them this horse is going to make a very good living, but he works on about 90 per cent of his talent,” said Alagna. “We’ve been good so far. We’re well on our way to having him paid out. We’re happy with the way he’s been and he looks amazing. He’s really keeping his weight this year. I think gelding him was the key to making him a more consistent horse.”
Alagna’s familiarity with the horse also helps.
“He’s funny,” said Alagna. “He wants you to try to stay one step ahead of him. I’ve been around the horse since he was a yearling. He has his quirks and he has his ins and outs. Some weeks you train him and some weeks you don’t. He kind of lets you know what he’s looking for that week. He makes you work for it, but he’s a talented horse that can make a lot of money.
“It used to be [frustrating], but now I know it’s him. You can’t just make a slight adjustment; you have to make a big adjustment because he doesn’t respond to small adjustments. Some weeks he wants you to train him hard and other weeks he doesn’t want you to train him at all. You have to fluctuate with him.”
Prior to the start of the Levy series, Foreign Officer was fourth in a four-year-old Preferred race at the Meadowlands. Alagna gave the horse a week off rather than send him for a test drive prior to the series.
“He wasn’t himself and he showed it racing,” said Alagna. “Rather than race him back to see if he was OK before the first leg of the Levy, I took a flyer and didn’t race him at all. I know that in the past he’s always responded to a week off. You have to try to get inside his head all the time.”
The top 10 Levy point-earners are listed below.
1. Foiled Again, 300
2. Gallant Yankee, 233
3. Blatantly Good and This Is Wyatt, 230;
5. Foreign Officer, 220
6. Southern Allie, 212
7. Real Nice, 208
8. Atochia, 200
9. Lahaye, 192
10. Legal Litigator, 183
A horse receives 25 points for entering plus 50 for a win, 25 for a second, 12 for a third, eight for a fourth and five for a fifth.
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.