Champions of the Garden State were crowned on Friday night at The Meadowlands as a four-pack of $100,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Finals were contested for two-year-olds.
Princess Marxxx drifted to the middle of the track but was able to outsprint her opponents to win the filly trot in 1:58 after winning last week's second preliminary leg in 1:57.4. She was driven by Andy Miller and is trained by Justin Lebo for owner and breeder Steve Stewart.
In non-wagering events before the main program, U Need Stones made it a clean sweep through the Sire Stakes, winning the colt and gelding trot by four lengths in 1:55.2. He is a homebred by Wishing Stone for Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi, and Larry Karr.
Hurrikane Empress finished off her sweep of the pacing filly division with a two-length victory in her $100,000 final in 1:53.4. Yannick Gingras won his second Sire Stakes of the night for trainer John McDermott, Jr. She is a homebred by Hurrikane Kingcole, bred and owned by Jonathan Klee Racing, Kuhen Racing, and Pegasis Investment Group.
Melanies Fran won his third straight match race over Hypnotico to win the $100,000 final for pacing colts and geldings. He is a homebred gelding by Hypnotic Blue Chip owned by Francis Azur. He is trained by Kevin McDermott.
Two first-leg divisions each for colts and fillies were contested in the Kindergarten Classic Series. Closing Statement (1:52.1) and Speed To Market (1:53.4) were winners in the colt-and-gelding divisions while All On Top Hanover (1:52.3) and Kissin In The Sand (1:53) were impressive winners in the filly splits.
Gingras added three more wins on the main card to his two wins in the non-wagering Sire Stakes Finals. Tim Tetrick and Corey Callahan each won a pair of races.
Total handle on the 10-race card was $1,920,414.
The $738,550 Crawford Farms Meadowlands Pace highlights a stakes-filled Saturday night card. The 13-race program has an early post time of 6:30 p.m.
For more information, visit www.playmeadowlands.com.
(The Meadowlands)