The first leg of the New Jersey Sire Stakes (NJSS) for two-year-olds of each sex and gait sat atop the Friday, July 11 marquee at The Meadowlands, and among the nine $33,784 divisions, Waldon Fashion and Sugar Packet were two of the most impressive winners.
Waldon Fashion (Walner-Broadway Donna) followed up a strong score one week ago in a division of the Kindergarten with another flawless performance in one of three splits for filly trotters.
The 1-9 favourite was dominant from the start, leaving from post eight in the eight-horse field with Todd McCarthy driving and led the field through fractions of :28.2, 1:00.3 and 1:30.2, leaving a :26.3 final quarter in the Jim Campbell trainee’s tank. She completed the mile in 1:57, hitting the wire 2-3/4 lengths in front of Royal Patti (Jeff Gregory) and Sparks (Ake Svanstedt).
“She broke in like a natural. It reminded me a lot of her mother," said Campbell, referring to the filly's $1.4 million-earning dam, a Breeders Crown and Kentucky Filly Futurity champion. "A good gait and has a lot of speed. She trained down well all winter.
“She likes to go fast, but she also will follow one, too. She was a little anxious getting out of there tonight but settled down once Todd got her there [to the top].”
The Fashion Farms homebred returned $2.20 to win.
Sugar Packet was an impressive winner in her career debut two weeks ago at Woodbine Mohawk Park, and the Blake MacIntosh student impressed again in a division for filly trotters, winning in 1:55.3 with Yannick Gingras in the bike.
“[Driver] Jody [Jamieson] really liked her [in her Mohawk win] and Blake thought she was pretty impressive,” said Gingras. “She left the gate really well [tonight]. She was really beautiful. She relaxed on the front.”
The daughter of Six Pack-Sugarcane Yankee cut out fractions of :28.4, :59.2 and 1:28.2, and had just enough to hold off a pocket-sitting, late-rallying Glam (Ake Svanstedt) by a nose. Lipstick (Andrew McCarthy) was third.
“She was a little lost, a little tired,” said Gingras. “She was good when the other horse [Glam] came at her. Ake’s [Svanstedt] filly is nice, too. I thought maybe he did get me.”
Sugar Packet is owned by her Ontario-based conditioner along with partners Bay Pond Racing Stable of Malvern, Pennsylvania and Ozzie MacKay of Moncton, N.B.
As the 4-5 favourite, Sugar Packet returned $3.80 to win.
The other filly trot winner was Southwind Chaska (Tactical Landing-Southwind Chai), driven by Tim Tetrick to a 1:55.2 triumph in her career debut for trainer Jim Oscarsson, returning $22 to win as the 10-1 fourth choice.
Be Perfect BG was perfect in the lone pacing filly division despite a trailing tier start, winning her third straight race in a new mark of 1:52.1 with Dexter Dunn getting her to the lead by the half and coming home in :26.2. She paid $6 to win as the 2-1 favourite. Anthony Beaton trains the Perfect Sting-JK Mardi Says filly, who posted her previous wins at Hippodrome 3R and Woodbine Mohawk Park, for Ecurie CSL of Sorel-Tracy, Que.
Driver Scott Zeron swept the colt and gelding pacing divisions with 3-5 favourite Rocknacious (Perfect Sting-Rocknificent) winning his career debut in 1:53.1 for trainer Linda Toscano and Reincarnated (Lazarus N-Cloud Diva) pulling off a 12-1 upset in his 1:53 maiden-breaking score for conditioner Joe Bongiorno.
Zeron tripled in NJSS action with the debuting two-year-old trotting colt Nix Nacken (Muscle Hill-Nixie Volo) from the Marcus Melander stable scoring in 1:55 as the 6-5 second choice.
Gingras grabbed another with the Ron Burke-trained Maga Hill (Muscle Hill-Goo Doo Doll) up by a nose in 1:54 as the even-money favourite off a pair of winning Gaitway Farms qualifiers.
The third division for the trotting colts went to Diabolic Hill (Muscle Hill-Crysti Dream), who debuted a winner in the Kindergarten Series a week ago and lowered his mark to 1:54.4 here with Andy McCarthy guiding the the 4-5 favourite for the Annie Stoebe stable.
All-source betting on the 14-race card totalled $2,484,582 USD.
Racing resumes on Saturday at 6:20 p.m. with a spectacular 14-race program that features eight stakes events, including The Big M’s signature race, the $656,000 USD Meadowlands Pace. For those who can’t make it to the track, there is a live three-hour broadcast that can be seen on FOX Sports 2 (FS2) beginning at 8 p.m.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack; photo of Sugar Packet winning on July 11)