The John Simpson Memorial trotting stakes were raced at The Meadowlands on Friday evening and no one in the house was prepared for the exhibition that Trixton put on winning the $51,543 “Ayres” for sophomore colts.
The beautiful dark son of Muscle Hill from Emilie Cas El was absolutely devastating, leading virtually all the way in a stunning 1:51.2 while driver Jimmy Takter sat motionless. The mile is actually faster than any three-year-old trotter went over the entire 2013 season. Lukas Hall was second and Flyhawk El Durado third.
The top priced yearling of 2012 at $360,000, Trixton was sold in the Hunterton Farms consignment at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale. The colt was brought along carefully by Takter last year at two, winning four of eight and taking a solid 1:54.4 record at The Red Mile though appearing immature at times. After recovery from off-season surgery, he trained back strong for Takter, had two impressive qualifiers and was absolutely airborne in a prep start last week closing in :26.4 from an impossible spot to be second in 1:53.4. The fractions on this occasion were :27, :55.1 and 1:24 with a :27.2 kicker under his own power.
The colt is owned by Brixton Medical Ab and Christina Takter and adds another powerful weapon to the three-year-old trotting arsenal in the Jimmy Takter barn.
Earlier in a non-betting $33,516 Simpson “Elma” three-year-old filly trot, Bob Key’s Sweetie Hearts led all the way for Tim Tetrick to win in 1:56. The Angus Hall filly was winning for the first time this season in her third start and was home safely with a :28-second finish to the mile. Annies List was second and Thisgirlisonfire third.
On the pacing front, nine sophomore fillies assembled to race in the $48,415 “Leta Long,” a division of the W. N. Reynolds stake. The Takter stable would strike again here with the very lightly raced Rocknroll Hanover filly Gettingreadytoroll winning easily in 1:50.1.
Sent right to the front by Yannick Gingras through sensible fractions, the filly never had an anxious moment wrapping it up with a :26.2 close while widening to a large margin at the finish. The win was one of four on the program for 'The Green Hornet.'
Gettingreadytoroll is owned in the Takter barn by his wife Christina along with John and Jim Fielding.
In the evening's $30,000 Fillies & Mares Free For All Handicap, Blue Chip Matchmaker Series champion Somwherovrarainbow romped to a three-length score in 1:49 flat, shaving one-fifth of a second off her lifetime mark for Tetrick and trainer Joe Holloway. The four-year-old millionairess is owned by Theodore Gewertz and Diamond Creek Racing.
An interesting statistic for the night was that the first 12 winners on the program either equalled or established a new lifetime mark. The only horse that didn’t was Brownsville Bomber, who won the finale in 1:52, missing her lifetime mark by one-fifth of a second.
The Championship Meet kicks into gear on Saturday night with three races on the road to the TVG Free For All Championships, consisting of two $40,000 eliminations for the Arthur J. Cutler Memorial for the trotters and a $50,000 TVG Free For All Pace. Post time is 7:15 p.m.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)