Bravo Angel S was handled cautiously by driver Brett Beckwith in the Friday, April 3 feature at The Meadowlands.
And her backers were more than OK with it.
She only had one qualifier on her card since a second-place finish in last November’s FanDuel Mare Trot, getting beat by M Ms Dream and finishing immediately in front of Warrawee Michelle, who walked away with U.S. divisional honours at the end of the year.
So, the resume was there, but her win on Friday was still extraordinary in the $38,194 Winners Over Trot as things panned out, as the six-year-old daughter of Readly Express-Cilla Sisu came from way back to beat a stellar field in 1:52.1.
Take All Comers (Todd McCarthy), the slight 9-5 second choice, had things well under control for a vast majority of the one-mile dash, quickly moving to the lead out of turn one and taking the field past the first three splits in :28, :56.2 and 1:25.1.
Bravo Angel S was far back in seventh in the eight-horse field at the half and did get a little closer at three-quarters, racing sixth on the outside. Beckwith didn’t have high hopes, but swung the Per Engblom trainee wide into the stretch nonetheless.
“I moved her off the last turn and she was passing a lot of them, so, I was like, I should fly home for a good third or fourth, but, man, she just kept digging down the stretch,” said Beckwith.
The stretch drive was nothing short of crazy.
Take All Comers did not have it. Resolve To Win (Tim Tetrick), the slight 9-5 favourite, joined the fray nearing the wire after sitting a pocket trip. Asteroid (Colin Kelly), who was overloaded with trot, burst onto the scene after splitting rivals late. But at the wire, it was Bravo Angel S, who so many times during a big 2025 campaign showing tremendous late trot, did so again to get up by a nose. Asteroid was second with his Enrico Robinson stablemate Resolve To Win third in the three-way photo.
“She was very honest and that was a really good first start off the bench,” said Beckwith. “Jason [Bartlett] never asked in her qualifier [when second on March 28]. I didn’t want to do much with her too early off the layoff.”
As it turned out, he didn’t have to.
Bravo Angel S now has 11 wins from 51 career outings, good for earnings of $365,351 for owner Consus Racing Stable of Vero Beach, Florida.
As the 5-2 third choice in the betting, she returned $7.40 to win.
Beckwith padded his lead atop The Big M driver standings, as his five victories on the program lifted his 2026 total to 68, 33 more than Joe Bongiorno, who is in second place.
Engblom and Mark Silva led the trainers with two victories apiece.
Seventy-three-year-old driver Dante Scattolini drove his first-ever winner at The Meadowlands after guiding 11-1 chance Cheese Omelet to victory lane in the seventh race pace for the Meadowlands Amateur Driving Club. TROT Magazine's John Rallis, who served as co-host of the live simulcast presentation, gave out that $25.20 winner on top.
All-source handle on the 14-race program totalled $2,454,305 USD.
Racing on resumes on Saturday at 6:35 p.m.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)