Fragment, who was last year's New York Sire Stakes, Big Apple and Matron Stakes winner, rebounded off a third-place finish in the Sire Stakes most recently at Buffalo Raceway to capture the $281,690 MGM Grand Messenger Stakes (Grade 2) for three-year-old male pacers on Friday, June 26 at MGM Yonkers Raceway. The Messenger, which was conducted at the distance of a 1-1/4 miles this year, is the first leg of the Pacing Triple Crown.
Driven by Jason Bartlett, Fragment showed speed from post two but allowed a two-wide Al Papi (Yannick Gingras) to clear him going to the :28.1 opening quarter. Al Papi was unchallenged to the half in :57.1, but an outer tier that included Frantic Hanover (Tim Tetrick), Melillo (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) and Hunt Off The Press (Scott Zeron) formed up as Al Papi raced toward three-quarters in 1:26.2.
Al Papi staved off fellow Ron Burke trainee Frantic Hanover to the mile marker in 1:54.1, but Frantic Hanover began to tire on the last turn, and that gave Bartlett and Fragment a path to the outside they needed. Al Papi was game to the wire, but he couldn't withstand the charge of Fragment, who got up to tally by half a length in 2:21.4. Mighty Matt (Braxten Boyd) held off Melillo for third and Apocalypsebluechip (Todd McCarthy) got up for fifth.
"It's good for the horse. He's been very special to us the last two years," remarked Bartlett of the victory. "For him to bounce back like that and to beat those type of horses, we're not surprised. I'm happy that he's back on track. For him to race like that in Buffalo was really not like him.
"This race went kind of went the way we wanted it to. I was going to re-move him, but the pace was enough, so I just kind of sat there. I know he's a little horse, but for me, on the front, he can get away from me a little bit because he floats over the ground. I was better off in the two-hole, to be honest."
Per Engblom trains Fragment for the ownership group of Engblom Farm of Wrightstown, New Jersey, Douglas Sipple of Georgetown, Delaware and Peaceful Acre Farm of Litiitz, Pennsylvania. He has 11 wins and three seconds from 19 lifetime starts and surpassed the $1 million mark in career earnings.
The Huntsville-The Show Returns colt was bred by Steve Stewart, Black Creek Farm, Michael Robinson and South Mountain Stables.
He paid $4.40 to win as the favourite and keyed a $7.24 exacta and a $35.90 trifecta.
"He bled a little bit at Buffalo, so we had to skip the next leg of the Sire Stakes to get him right. I think we did right by him," said Engblom. "I didn't stake him to any of the races this summer on the bigger tracks. I tried to stick on the smaller tracks and hope to have a good fall with him.
"He's got the New York Sire Stakes and the Empire Breeders, and then we'll aim for the Little Brown Jug and the Breeders Crown."
The companion Grade 3 Park MGM Pace for three-year-old fillies was split into a pair of $70,423 divisions.
In the first flight, Two Twenty Swift (Bartlett), the 4-5 favourite, led through fractions of :27.2, :55 and 1:23.2 while she parked out Existential (Matt Kakaley). The swift tempo and battle made Two Twenty Swift vulnerable in the lane, and pocket-sitter Ideal Beauty Queen took advantage, rallying past Two Twenty Swift to prevail half a length in 1:53.2 at odds of 22-1 for driver Scott Zeron. Two Twenty Swift held on for the runner-up spot and Bettor Be A Star (Dexter Dunn) had pace in the stretch from second-over to get up for third.
A daughter of American Ideal-Azreal As It Gets owned by co-breeder Rosalia Huff of Margate, Florida along with partner Beauty Bridle Racing Stable of South Amboy, New Jersey, Ideal Beauty Queen is trained by Jake Huff. She won for the fourth time from 16 starts and has now earned $143,746. Ideal Beauty Queen paid $47.70 to win.
In the second Park MGM Pace split, 2-5 choice Im A Lou Lou and driver Tim Tetrick left from post four and cleared Tall Dark Tequila (Tyler Buter) for command before the :27.3 quarter. From there, Im A Lou Lou kept the top spot to the half in 57 seconds and the three-quarters in 1:25.1 before she closed in :27.3 to prevail by 2-1/2 lengths in 1:52.4. Napalm (Dunn) was second from first-over and Tall Dark Tequila wound up third.
Bred by Add Inc., the Sweet Lou-Benear filly Im A Lou Lou is trained by Ron Burke for owners Burke Racing Stable of Fredericktown, Pennsylvania, Knox Services of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Larry Karr of Boca Raton, Florida and Phil Collura of Mountain Top, Pennsylvania. She has a summary of 5-5-2 from 17 tries and has pocketed $455,342 in her career. Im A Lou Lou returned $2.84 to win.
Add an extra quarter of a mile to the $352,113 MGM Yonkers Trot (Grade 2), and you have a recipe for a wild finish. That proved to be the case on when Inexpressable and driver Tim Tetrick rallied off of a third-over cover trip and charged by the field to capture the opening leg of Trotting's Triple Crown.
With favoured Spencer Hanover (Bartlett) starting from the second tier, Requiem (Wrenn Jr.) was the first to the front but yielded quickly to AI (Gingras). Second choice Silverstein (Kakaley) then advanced rapidly and secured the front before the :29.1 opening quarter had been reached. The complexion of the race changed on the second turn when Spencer Hanover made a break.
With little movement on the outside, Kakaley slowed the fractions with Silverstein hitting the half and three-quarters in :58.1 and 1:27.2, respectively. With about a half-mile remaining in the 1-1/4-mile contest, Dunn moved Kingmen to the outside and flushed Requiem to gain cover. Tetrick advanced third-over with Inexpressable as the pace picked up.
The field hit the 1:56 mile marker with Silverstein still in control and looking strong, and he had control into the stretch. However, he was slowing down noticeably at that point, opening the door for the closers. AI looked to the inside but couldn't advance. However, Kingmen rallied wide and had plenty of trot to overtake the leader but not enough to stall the Lucas Wallin-trained Inexpressable, who motored on past to a neck victory. Kingmen held second with Silverstein third, followed by AI and fifth-place finisher Nordic Dancer S (Buter). The mile and one quarter time was 2:25.3.
"Last thing I wanted to do was make a break early," said Tetrick. "He's a big, strong colt and he seems like he's got big lungs."
It was just the third race of the year and second win for Inexpressable, an impeccably-bred son of Walner from the family of double millionaire Maryland. A $439,189 Lexington Selected Sale yearling buy, Inexpressable is the first foal out of the Cantab Hall-sired Ineffable -- she a half-sister to 2021 Mohawk Million winner Venerable. Owned by Wallin Racing Stable of New Egypt, New Jersey and Germany's Karin Walter-Mommert, the lightly raced colt with wins in half of his eight career outings more than doubled his bankroll, which climbed past $300,000. He was bred by Menhammar Stuteri Ab and S R F Stable.
A 7-1 offering, Inexpressable paid $16.68 to win. He keyed a $136.32 exacta and a $493.88 trifecta.
Wallin suggested that Inexpressable would be pointed towards the Stanley Dancer Memorial next on July 11 at The Meadowlands.
In the first of two $77,465 divisions of the New York New York Mile (Grade 3) for three-year-old trotting fillies, the Ake Svanstedt-trained and Jonathan Ahle-driven Busy Miss Lissy S scored impressively, winning virtually wire-to-wire. She put up fractions of :27.3, :57.1 and 1:26 en route to the 1:54.1 victory by 7-3/4 lengths. Busy Miss Lissy S returned $5.88 to win as the 9-5 second choice in the field of five, with Myths And Legends (Zeron) second and Wishuponastar Deo (Bartlett) third. Favoured R Ro (Buter) broke at the outset and was never in contention.
A homebred daughter of Calgary Games-Hills Angel S bred in Sweden and owned by Panamera Racing of Delray Beach, Florida, Busy Miss Lissy S won for the first time in three starts this year and is now seven-for-12 lifetime with earnings of $331,381.
Emmas Mystery CCL and Todd McCarthy needed every inch of the stretch but finally nosed out pacesetter Sparks (Svanstedt) on the wire to capture the second division. Emmas Mystery CCL raced from off-the-pace in third as Sparks led from the outset through panels of :29.3, :59.2 and 1:28.3. With three-eighths of a mile remaining, McCarthy gave Emmas Mystery CCL her cue and she forced the action through the final turn and right to the wire, prevailing in a 1:56.3 mile. Sparks was second and Atlantic Summer (Wrenn Jr.) finished third.
Winning Key of Leechburg, Pennsylvania owns Emmas Mystery CCL and Noel Daley trains the Muscle Hill-sired filly out of Mistery Woman. She returned $3.14 as the public choice while picking up her first win in four sophomore starts and improving to five-for-10 lifetime as her bankroll climbed to $377,491. She was bred by Laura Young.
(With files from Yonkers Raceway; photo of Fragment winning the Messenger Stakes)