Breakfast With The Babies went postward at The Meadowlands on Friday, July 12 at 10 a.m. on this Meadowlands Pace weekend due to the detention requirements for Saturday night’s stakes. The track was rated good, dulled by overnight rains with a negligible breeze, and the temps were in the 70s (or low 20s in Celsius).
My Only Love opened the day’s racing with a 1:56.1 win, closing sharply through a :28.1 final quarter for Scott Zeron, who threaded the Gimpanzee filly through an opening mid-stretch. Xalapa (Tim Tetrick) and Winnpanzee (Trond Smedshammer) came right with the winner late for minor placings. My Only Love is trained by Linda Toscano for Brittany Farms and Marvin Katz, who placed the winning bid of $180,000 at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale to secure her from breeder Coyote Wynd Farms.
Rita Dawns Halo (Andy McCarthy) came to life in her third try today, leading all the way through even fractions to get a nice 1:55.2 record, trotting home in :28.2 under her own power. Party Line (Marcus Melander) followed the winner throughout and held sway for second, despite drifting late. Tony Alagna trains the winner for Kenny Jacobs, who shelled out $102,000 at Lexington to breeders Steve Stewart and Marti Ala-Seppala for the daughter of Googoo Gaagaa.
The third race was decided when the Muscle Hill filly Get It All (Marcus Melander) — a $250,000 Lexington purchase — edged past the tempo-setting Gettin You Home (Zeron) — a $10,000 Lexington filly — in the shadow of the wire in a 1:56 mile. Both fillies demonstrated game determination; Get It All coming in off a 1:58.1 Meadowlands win two weeks ago while Gettin You Home had a pair of Scioto qualifying wins on her card and was likely auditioning for round two of the New Jersey Sire Stakes (NJSS). Brixton Medical, Marvin Katz and the Hatfields own the winner with Katz taking a breeder’s credit along with Al Libfeld.
Naming a Standardbred Flightline may be construed as setting the bar a touch high. Breeder Steve Jones is familiar with heights so he, along with partners Mary Kinsey Arnold and Paul Bordogna, placed the moniker on a son of Walner that's also the first colt from the stakes-winning Hey Blondie. Andy and Julie Miller liked what they saw enough to plunk down $220,000 at Lexington for the yearling and so far he is looking like a bargain. Off a crisp second in his first start, today Flightline settled third early for Andy, moved up when others broke, had the lead by the 1:27 three quarters then cruised home in :28 to take a 1:55 mark with the greatest of ease. Hey Porter (Anibal Boras) trotted along steadily throughout to wind up second. The Millers own Flightline along with Arnold, Patrick Hoopes and TLP Stables.
Pacing colts put on a show in their only race this morning. Blue Onyx (Andy Miller) sat a nice trip behind Strangerinthenight (A. McCarthy) through solid fractions, then ground past that stubborn rival while drifting slightly. That drift allowed a seam for the speedy Fusion (Yannick Gingras) to slip between them, but Strangerinthenight was resolute to the wire for the 1:52.3 win with a :26.2 final quarter in a dazzler. From the first crop of 2020 U.S. Horse of the Year Tall Dark Stranger, Blue Onyx was bred by Crawford Farms Racing and sold for $150,000 at Lexington to trainer Tony Alagna along with partners Pryde Stables, Brad Grant, Crawford Farms Racing and William Beattie.
Filly pacers closed out the day when Chakra and Anibal Boras won determinedly in a two-move 1:52.4 effort, sprinting home in :27 to get by stablemate Long Hot Summer off the turn then digging in to keep both Faze (Gingras) and Huntingfortreasure (Tetrick) at bay late. The gritty Lather Up filly, bred by Crawford Farms LLC, sold for $25,000 at Harrisburg to trainer Tony Alagna and Robbie Pryde as Pryde Stables Inc.
(Meadowlands Racetrack)