The North America Cup day edition of Breakfast With The Babies at The Meadowlands, sponsored by Jules Siegel’s Fashion Farms, came an hour early at 9:00am on a beautiful, windless Saturday morning with the temperature at 70°F / 21°C and the track fast.
Trainer Marcus Melander flaunted his imposing freshman trotting power this morning, winning five of the six colt races while finishing 1-2 in races eight through eleven.
Trotting colts got underway in the seventh race where the camera could not separate a closing Hellbent For AM (Sears) and mile cutter Legion Of Honor (Andy McCarthy) as they crossed the wire, resulting in a dead heat in 1:56.
Hellbent For AM is a Anders Strom via Courant Inc homebred trained in the Melander barn while Legion Of Honor was a $150,000 Lexington purchase by Mario Mazza from breeders Steve Stewart and John Carver with Lucas Wallin doing the training. Just as impressive as the top two was the 27-flat closing kick displayed by third-place finisher Real Cool Sam (D. Miller), a Fashion Farm homebred.
The Melander stable began the 1-2 binge in race eight when Maesteraemon (Sears) outkicked Speed Ball Swagger (Mattias Melander) for a 2:01.1 win. Mahomes (Tetrick) scrambled up for third. The winner is another SRF Stable colt, this one an Andover Hall that cost $170,000 at the Standardbred Horse Sale and is a Hanover Shoe Farms product.
Melander came right back with Capricornus (Tetrick) to win in 1:58.2, taking over from stablemate Hollywood Story (Sears) on the way to the 1:00.3 half then moved away from his chief rival under his own power with a 27.3 final quarter. The $110,000 Cantab Hall scion was a Harrisburg yearling purchase is a Windsong Stable-bred now owned by JJ Stable.
Sears drove Expectations to a 1:57.2 score next, taking over early and finishing in :27.3 in hand over Hell Patrol (Tetrick) and Chaptiama (Trond Smedshammer). Expectations is another son of Muscle Hill, bred by Dunroven Stud and sold in Lexington for $110,000 to Vicky Trotting.
The domination continued with Back Of The Neck (Mattias Melander) leading all the way to an easy 1:58 win over Hopeyousteponalego (Marcus Schoen) and Swiss House On Fire (Svanstedt). Back Of The Neck is a son of Ready Cash, bred by Order By Stable and still shows Order By as owner despite having sold for $150,000 last fall at Harrisburg.
Ake Svanstedt finally put the Melander reign of terror to rest by winning the last of the trotting colt races with the very sharp-looking Chapter Seven colt Third Shift. They tracked Melander trainee Gerard (Schoen) throughout slow fractions before blasting by in a :27.4 end to the 2:01 mile. Jula Trix Treasure (Gingras) closed it up to be second. The winner was a $235,000 Harrisburg yearling purchase by Melby Gard Inc from breeder Winbak Farms.
The day’s opener featured several top-bred filly trotters and a pair of expensive, impressive Muscle Hills finished one-two. Bellareina Dolce (Brian Sears) took over past the quarter, rated the middle half then dug in when challenged by Impressive Fashion (Dave Miller) as they sprinted home in lock-step through a :27.4 end to the 2:00 mile. Oblivion (Tim Tetrick) was a handy third. Lennart Agren owns the winner via his SRF Stable, a $400,000 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale buy from breeder David McDuffee and she is trained by Marcus Melander.
Yannick Gingras saved ground all the way then found room at the rail late for Queen Of The Hill to eke out a narrow 1:58.4 win over a wide and charging Dramatra (Scoot Zeron). Dip Me Hanover (Tetrick) was a good third. Queen Of The Hill is an Explosive Matter filly that Al Libfeld paid $110,000 for at Lexington
to secure her from breeders Paymaq Racing, Lou Willinger and JC Bafia. She is trained in the Per Engblom stable.
Gingras took the exact same path to victory in the next race, guiding Becky Lindy to a ground saving 1:59.3 score, making it two straight for the driver/trainer duo of Gingras and Engblom. They sat tight in the pocket behind the fractions set by Context (Jan Johnson) before wearing that game rival down very late to get up. Beautiful Mrs A (Marcus Miller) was third in a purposeful trip. Lindy Farms bred the winner, a $35,000 Lexington purchase by Christina Takter and John Fielding.
Jula Beauty AM made it a hat trick for Gingras and Engblom, coming wide from well back to track down the leaders late in the stretch and get a narrow win over Common Sense S (Svanstedt) in 2:00.2 with her final quarter in 27.3. Musclesandmascara (Dexter Dunn) rallied late for third. Jula Racing owns the Muscle Hill filly, an $85,000 Lexington yearling bred by AM Bloodstock.
Senorita Rita (Zeron) gave the crowd a thrill with an impressive gate-to-wire 1:57.4 win, trotting home in :27.1 under no urging. Shishito (Tetrick) actually gained in the stretch to get up for the place over Seventimesalady (Ake Svanstedt). Ken Jacobs paid $285,000 at Lexington for Senorita Rita, a Chapter Seven lass bred by Our Horse Cents Stable. Hall of Famer Linda Toscano is the trainer.
Caviart Ava was a winner for Andy McCarthy in a front-end effort this morning, finishing her 1:58.4 mile with a :28.1 last quarter with something left. Electrapedia (Svanstedt) got up to be second over Mission US (Mattias Melander). The Trixton filly is a Caviart Farms homebred, trained by Nancy Johansson.
The pacers came around after a training break and Tony Alagna fillies finished 1-2 in 1:57.2 with Never Ever Forget (Dexter Dunn) closing to get up over the inside horses and holding off Reflect With Me (McCarthy) who lost ground early, breaking while leading before the :59.2 before making a nice recovery. Both fillies are by Captaintreacherous, the winner an $85,000 Lexington purchase by Alagna & In The Gym, VJ Stable, Donovan and Sbrocco from AM Bloodstock.
Alagna sent out Lady Lou (McCarthy) to win the fourteenth after leading all the way in 1:54 with a 27 end to hold Baby Youre The Best (D. Miller) and Rocknificient (Tetrick) at bay while becoming the fastest freshman filly pacer of 2019. The daughter of Sweet Lou was bred by Robert Hamather and went through the Harrisburg sale for $55,000 to Brad Grant.
Capt Midnight (McCarthy) became the fastest freshman pacing colt of the season for Tony Alagna when he won the 15th race in 1:52.3 / 26.3 from the pocket over a stubborn Freedom Warrior (Tetrick) with Captain Nemo (Dunn) third. The Captaintreacherous colt is a Hanover-bred and was a $350,000 Harrisburg yearling purchase by Marvin Katz, Ken Jacobs, Brad Grant and Captain Midnight Racing.
Genius Man (Marcus Miller) took the last baby race of the day with an impressive gate-to-wire 1:54.4 win, holding sway over Force N Fury (Dunn) and He Refuses To Lose (Matt Kreuger). The winner is an Art Major colt that was an $87,000 Lexington purchase by Ron Michelon and Daniel Plouffe from breeder Winbak Farms.
After the baby races, Dan Patch Award winner and Hambletonian hopeful Gimpanzee qualified in 1:53.4, doing all the work in his mile and sprinting home in :27.2 for driver Mattias Melander. This year's Levy winner Western Fame tightened for a possible start in next week's Ben Franklin eliminations with a sizzling 1:48.3 mile, closing in :26 for driver Dan Dube and establishing a new lifetime mark in the process.
Results for the qualifying session can be found at the following links:
► Saturday Results - Meadowlands (Baby Races)
► Saturday Results - Meadowlands (Qualifiers)
(with files from the Meadowlands)