Trainer Linda Toscano sends out a pair of three-year-old pacing fillies in Saturday's $293,970 Lismore
Pace at Yonkers Raceway. Eliminations were last weekend and the Toscano trainees, Spoiled Beach and Jkmusicofthenite turned in strong second-place finishes by three-quarters of a length and a neck, respectively.
Spoiled Beach has put in a strong first part of the season; nine times either first or second in 10 starts, a big improvement over her 0-for-8 season as a two-year-old.
Asked the difference between last year and this, Toscano laughed, "I wish I could say me but I am not egotistical. I didn't train her last year, so I don't know a lot about what she did last year. She was a Canadian-bred and owned by the Enviro (Stable) boys (Gordon Banks and Marc Hanover). I usually break their horses, but I didn't want to go to Canada; we had plenty of racing around here (in New Jersey).
“When they were dispersing yearlings last year, they said, 'You don't care if you don't get her, do you?'”, she added. “It's always hard to give something up once you know what you have. But it's never hard to give it up if you don't know what they are. So I said, 'No I don't care.'
"Susanne Kerwood had her last year. She broke her, raced her, did everything with her. As I understand it, she thought she had a little talent. She (the filly) was the one that went down through no fault of her own in an accident where Luc (driver Ouellette) broke his wrist last year. I don't know what the story was, when they brought her back this year, they asked me to bring her back. I have always trained their horses, so I said, 'Sure,' and brought her back with the original intention of, if we didn't like her, put her in the January sale and turn her over.
“She was training back well and she really didn't do anything wrong,” she added. “She was a pleasure to have in the barn. So we raced her a little bit early (starting in overnights at the Meadowlands) and I liked her. She's really, really, not done anything wrong. I've trained almost every member of that family (progeny of Beach Dancer) and she actually has a little better work ethic and tries harder than any of them did. She's been a very pleasant surprise for me."
Spoiled Beach set all the fractions except the final one in her Lismore elimination, racing on the front end throughout the mile.
"Not her favourite thing to do," noted Toscano, "but I thought she was very stoic and did a great job. She loves a target (a horse on the lead); when she doesn't have a target, she usually figures out a way to mow them down."
Driver Dave Palone piloted the filly for the first time on Saturday.
"He was just the best guy available and thank goodness he came over," said Toscano. "We were really kind of struggling and the owners happened to notice he was going to be in Pocono. So I called him and he was more than happy to come down and drive her and it worked out real well."
Toscano is not sure who will drive Spoiled Beach or Jkmusicofthenite in the final.
"Everything is up in the air at this point," she said. "Timmy Tetrick was supposed to go north, but if he stays south, Dave may go north, so hopefully it will either be Tetrick or Palone that drives her. Not a bad thing either way."
The other half of the Toscano entry is Jkmusicofthenite, owned and bred by the 3 Brothers Stable.
"Musicofthenight is really a very nice filly," Toscano said. "We'd planned on bringing her back a little later. She had white line disease last year, so she had a foot that bothered her. We stopped early, let that grow out. Her first start, she was awesome, but got taken down because she bullied her way out of the hole. (May 15, she was placed third after crossing the finish line first in 1:51.4 in a New Jersey Sire Stakes event.) Then she came up sick for the final, but we got her healthy and I was very careful with the way we raced her last week. I didn't want to over use her because she hasn't done much the week before. I was very pleased with the way she raced.
"Musicofthenite can do it any way she needs to when she's on top of her game, but with a three-horse entry (Bulletproof Enterprises' Not Enough, In Kabbalah Karen B, both elim winners, and In The Game) in there, we're going to have to hope for some speed and be close."
Toscano also got a training assist on the victory by Chick N Tell in the $92,030 leg of the Classic Series for older trotters at Mohawk when that five-year-old won on June 6, beating a field that included Corleone Kosmos and Arch Madness. Toscano has trained him since late January, when he was sent to her by Canadian-based trainer Steve Doyle.
"This was a thrill," she said. "That was my favourite thing that happened all weekend. Steve Doyle has trained him; really he's the one that was responsible for making him the horse he is. He sent him down to me last year, we had a good run with him (winning four open events this year) and then he sent him back down this year, but the only thing, his owner wanted to sell. So my people (owners Stake Your Claim Stable, 3 Brothers Stable and Steve Doyle) bought into him. He had a quarter crack (in his hoof). The quarter crack has come along and he was getting better and better and better.
"His last two starts at Yonkers (a win and a second in open races at Yonkers) were awesome. We thought we'd bring him over there and if he acts good send him up for the Classic. We knew some horses would be at the Elitlopp (in Sweden) and we thought if there would be one light division, it would be last week. It didn't turn up light, but at least it turned up short. I shipped him up on Wednesday when I took my girls to Buffalo for the New York Sires Stakes and Steve Doyle picked him up. I was happy to return the favour. He brought him down sharp to me in January and I returned him sharp to him in June. So he'll race this week (in the Classic final at Mohawk) and next and he'll be back down later."
Meanwhile, back in her home state of New Jersey, Toscano has yet another pacing filly going for big bucks Saturday: Mcgibson in the $175,000 Miss New Jersey at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford.
"Mcgibson has been kind of a fun horse this year, she was a disappointing horse last year," said Toscano.
The daughter of Mcardle was 0-for-6 last year, but has rebounded with five wins in nine starts this year, a 1:53 record and $86,162 in earnings.
"I really loved her training down and I prepped her, because I own half of her myself (with the Bay's Stable and William Jacobowitz). I prepped her with sire stakes in mind in late fall and then Grand Circuit races. She entrapped her epiglottis. So we had to shut her down, she needed throat surgery. I trained her back around 2:03 to make sure she was OK and then shut her down completely. She's come back really very well. I don't know if she's the best of the best, but she's as blue collar a worker as I've had in a long time. She shows up, she makes money. She can make her own speed so she gets herself involved regardless, so that's a real plus for her."
(Harness Racing Communications)