With the improvement he showed from age two to three, My MVP proved to be a most valuable trotter. And trainer Tony Alagna thinks the horse can continue to make strides this season as a four-year-old.
My MVP will make his seasonal debut in Saturday night’s inaugural $100,000 Meadowlands Maturity for four-year-old trotters at the Meadowlands Racetrack. He will be joined in the field by Another Amaretto, Googoo Gaagaa, Guccio, Harbor Point, Little Brown Fox, Magic Tonight, Modern Family, Solvato and Uncle Peter.
The draw was unkind to My MVP and regular driver Mike Lachance, who will start from Post 10. My MVP and Googoo Gaagaa are the only horses in the field yet to have raced this season.
Last year, My MVP won the Kentucky Futurity – one of the three jewels in the Trotting Triple Crown – and earned $721,959 for Alagna and owners Brittany Farms, Joe Sbrocco and Modern Family Partners.
He won five times, finished second to Magic Tonight in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship, third behind Market Share and Guccio in the Hambletonian (the three were separated by a neck) and picked up a paycheque in 19 of 21 starts. As a two-year-old, My MVP won one of five races and earned $9,795.
“I was tickled to death with his season last year,” Alagna said. “Mike did a tremendous job managing him and putting money on his card.
“He was very weak behind at (age) two and he got stronger going into his three-year-old year. He’s even stronger and more mature this year. As much as I’ve seen him change from (age) three to four, I expect him to have a nice year this year and an even better year at five.”
For My MVP, maturity was more physical than mental.
“The two usually go hand-in-hand, but it’s more physical with him,” Alagna said. “You can see it with his balance; he’s really come together.”
My MVP was an $85,000 purchase at the Lexington Selected sale. A son of stallion Cantab Hall, he was the first foal out of the mare Exceed Expectation, who is a half-sister to 1997 Hambletonian Oaks winner Must Be Victory. The family also includes 1998 Merrie Annabelle winner Rae.
The Meadowlands Maturity was created to give four-year-olds a chance to gradually transition into racing against older horses. The Maturity is limited to 10 starters based on lifetime earnings. A race for four-year-old pacers is scheduled May 18.
Jimmy Takter sends out Guccio, Little Brown Fox and Uncle Peter. Guccio, who starts from Post 1, won last year’s Matron Stakes and earned $748,071. He has one victory and one second-place finish in two starts this season; in both Guccio was the only four-year-old in the race.
Googoo Gaagaa won last year’s Earl Beal, Jr. Memorial at Pocono Downs in 1:50.4, which is the fastest mile ever trotted on a five-eighths-mile oval. A week earlier, he won his Beal elimination in a then-world-record 1:51.3. He also won the $500,000 Colonial Trot at Harrah’s Philadelphia in a stakes- and track-record 1:52.1 and the Maryland Sire Stakes championship at Rosecroft Raceway in a stakes- and track-record 1:54.1.
“The more four-year-old races, the better,” Alagna said. “That’s key to bringing these horses back (at age four). You don’t really want to go against older, more experienced horses right at the start of the year. Later in the season it’s a different story, but at this stage it gives them a chance to get going and mature.”
$100,000 Meadowlands Maturity
1. Guccio
2. Little Brown Fox
3. Googoo Gaagaa
4. Solvato
5. Harbor Point
6. Modern Family
7. Magic Tonight
8. Uncle Peter
9. Another Amaretto
10. My MVP
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.