The truth is the weather was frightful, causing a 90 minute delay prior to the second race, but heavy showers did not deter 8-5 favourite Speak The Truth, who won the first of three second round divisions of the New Jersey Sire Stakes for three-year-old trotters on Friday night, May 23 at The Meadowlands.
Tim Tetrick, who piloted Speak The Truth, also won the third division, the 11th race, with 1-9 favourite Odds On Amethyst in a New Jersey Sire Stakes record for three-year-old trotting geldings of 1:53.4.
Speak The Truth, a son of Muscle Hill-Tadys Comer, won his 2014 debut with a mile in 1:54.3 on a sloppy track, finishing two and three-quarter lengths ahead of Dexter Cup winner Sumatra (by Muscles Yankee) with Skates N Plates (by Revenue) in third by three and a quarter lengths.
The third race co-feature for colts and geldings carried a purse of $21,500.
The team behind trotting stars Market Share and Chapter Seven -- driver Tetrick, trainer Linda Toscano and owner Richard Gutnick -- were back in the winner’s circle with Speak The Truth ($5.20), who had two wins and one second in his five starts at two.
Speak The Truth sat fifth most of the race, was sent after the lead on the turn for home and tipped out four-wide in the stretch.
A $65,000 Harrisburg Yearling Sale purchase, Speak The Truth has earned $24,750. The half-brother to millionaire Hez Striking is eligible to the Hambletonian.
Tetrick picked up his third driving tally of the night with Odds On Amethyst (Muscle Hill-Mystical Sunshine) in the $21,000 second colts and geldings division.
Odds On Amethyst ($2.20) took the lead on the first turn and held on through fractions of :28, :56.2 and 1:25.2, where he opened up distance between himself and the pocket-sitting Resolve (by Muscle Hill), who closed ground near the wire to narrow the margin to three-quarters of a length. King City (by Muscle Hill) was third.
Odds On Amethyst, also Hambletonian-eligible, trained by Chris Ryder, crossed the wire in 1:53.4, eclipsing the New Jersey Sire Stakes three-year-old trotting gelding record of 1:54.1 set by Green Day in 2007.
The win was Odds On Amethyst’s second in three starts this year and improved his record to four wins and two seconds in 13 career starts while pushing his bankroll to $108,248 for Diamond Creek Racing of Wellsville, Pennsylvania.
In the $40,000 division for fillies, carded as the fifth race, winner Cee Bee Yes (by Muscles Yankee-Enbeecee) posted a lifetime mark of 1:54.1 with driver Marcus Miller at the lines.
The Julie Miller trainee, winner of the Lady Suffolk on May 2 at Freehold, chased 8-5 favourite Heavens Door (by Muscle Hill) into the stretch, getting up for a two and a half length victory over My Inspiration (by Chocolatier), who nipped Heavens Door for second-place.
Heavens Door, driven by Ake Svanstedt, was third across the wire but was placed last by the judges for racing inside three pylons in the stretch, moving Scream And Shout (by Muscles Yankee) into third-place.
Cee Bee Yes, a $45,000 Harrisburg Yearling Sale purchase, won the New Jersey Sire Stakes Final at two. She now has six wins, three seconds and two thirds from 14 career starts and has banked $237,057 for the ownership of Jason Allen of Vincentown, New Jersey and Douglas Allen of Southampton, New Jersey.
A quartet of $100,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Finals for three-year-old trotters and pacers, fillies and colts, will be contested on May 31.
Another Hambletonian eligible trotter earned a victory on tonight’s card as Mister Bs Way scored in 1:54.3 in a non-winners of two event despite being parked out to the half-mile pole for driver Ron Pierce. The brother to Win Missy B and Winning Mister is a homebred for Robert Key.
In the finale, the impressive Sandbetweenurtoes made it a perfect two-for-two on the season, scoring a decisive win in a very sharp 1:50.3, easily the fastest mile of the night. Rebuffed to the half-mile pole, Brett Miller guided his filly from the pocket to soar right past Up Front Elizabeth, who cut sharp fractions of :26.4, :54 and 1:22 before finishing second to the odds-on favourite. Sandbetweenurtoes is trained by Larry Remmen for Milton, Ont. owner Bradley Grant.
Racing resumes on Saturday with first post time at 7:15 p.m. The Saturday program features the second leg of the New Jersey Sires Stakes for three-year-old colt and filly pacers as well as the second leg of the TVG Free For All Pacing Championship.
(SBOANJ/Meadowlands)