Meadowlands Racetrack hosted 18 baby races on Saturday morning with the Somebeachsomewhere colt Cowboy Terrier pacing the fastest mile so far this year by a two-year-old.
Making his second qualifying start for trainer-driver Ray Schnittker, Cowboy Terrier pulled the pocket after the :29-second opening quarter mark and rolled past middle stations of :56.4 and 1:24 while building up a 12 length lead on his foes. The son of Somebeachsomewhere out of the Western Hanover mare Wild West Show then cruised home to win by seven lengths in 1:53.1. The bay colt is owned and bred by Schnittker and Charles Iannazzo.
The top trotting mile was put forth by the Jimmy Takter-trained and driven filly To Dream On, who notched her second straight qualifying win. She took the lead from post three and cruised through fractions of :29.4, 1:00.4 and 1:30 before kicking away from the field to win by 10 lengths with a :27-second final frame in a North American season's-best 1:57 clocking for a trotting two-year-old. Valley High Stable owns and bred the black Credit Winner filly out of the Conway Hall mare Satin Pillows, who is a half-sister to millionaire Pampered Princess and Was It A Dream ($824,457). She was a $200,000 yearling at the Harrisburg Sale.
Schnittker sent out three two-year-old winners this morning while Takter and Robin Schadt had two. Linda Toscano topped the session with four.
Schnittker's others winners were trotting filly Royal Assets (Donato Hanover-Habits Lady), a half-sister to Take My Picture ($574,367), in 1:59.4 and trotting colt Caveat Emptor (Deweycheatumnhowe-Venus Hall) in 2:00.2.
Takter also won with trotting colt Kegler Hanover (Crazed-Kimberidge Hanover) in 2:00.3 while his son Jimmy Taker Jr. won with trotting filly True Valentine (Cantab Hall-Yankee Valentine) in 2:00.4.
Schadt and driver John Campbell teamed up for wins with pacing filly Odds On Alpha (Somebeachsomewhere-Odds On Arttoheart) in 1:56.1 and pacing colt Odds On Equuleus (Art Major-Latte Lady) in 1:55.1.
Driven by Tim Tetrick, Toscano's winning trainees were pacing filly Aria J (Art Major-Misty Flirts) in 1:56.3, and pacing colts Swift As A Shadow (Bettors Delight-Flibbertigibbet) in 1:57.1, Doctor Butch (Art Major-Classical Yankee) in 1:54.4, and Deny Deny Deny (Art Major-Fool For You) in 1:55.4.
Among Saturday's winners was the debuting trotting filly Thistle Dhu, a half-sister to Yursa Hanover ($956,174) and tonight's Goodtimes Trot starter Scary Good. The Donato Hanover-Yankee Topaz miss won in 1:59.4 for driver Yannick Gingras and trainer Jonas Czernyson. She was purchased for $60,000 at the Lexington Selected Sale by W. J. Donovan.
To view Saturday's complete qualifying results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Meadowlands Racetrack.