Driver Yannick Gingras earned two victories, setting a stakes record with Southwind Frank and scoring with the Canadian-bred and owned All The Time, in a quartet of New Jersey Sire Stakes Finals for two-year-olds on Friday, July 17 at The Meadowlands.
Boston Red Rocks, sent off as the 1-5 favourite, controlled the pace but in the end he had to fight off two challengers and one of them, Ideal Rocky, got by him in the final strides to win the $100,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Final for two-year-old pacing colts, the second race.
Ideal Rocky ($10.20), driven by Corey Callahan and trained by John Butenschoen, brushed three-wide to win by head, handing Boston Red Rocks his first loss in three starts. It was half a length back to Winning Linc in third. All three are sons of Rocknroll Hanover.
Ideal Rocky did not get off to an auspicious start, refusing to put his nose anywhere near the gate.
“He decided the last couple of starts when we had the five-hole that he doesn’t want to be close to the darn thing [the starting gate car],” said Butenschoen. “I guess we’d better go back to the drawing board to make sure he knows what to do when he’s behind the car itself [and not the wings]. But he was able to overcome that. I was tickled.
“The owner, Bill Wiswell, we were watching on the backstretch, and we were in an impossible spot here right now off of those soft fractions [of :27.3 to the quarter and :57.2 to the half],” Butenschoen noted. “If we got a cheque here, we’ll be in good shape. Then he started motoring up around the last turn and mowed them down. That was great.”
A $47,000 Harrisburg Sale yearling purchase, Ideal Rocky paced a lifetime-best of 1:53.1, with a last quarter in :26.2 seconds. He was bred by Fashion Farms LLC.
He races for Wiswell of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, Jean Goehien of Aurora, Illinois and Eugene Schick of Elgin, Illinois. He now has two wins and one third in three starts for earnings of $63,000.
All The Time, handled by Yannick Gingras, was the best of three Jimmy Takter trainees in the $100,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes for trotting fillies, the fourth race.
All The Time ($3.20) trotted the mile in 1:55.4, finishing a length and three-quarters ahead of Silent Blessings (by Muscles Yankee). It was four lengths back to Gifted Lady (Muscle Hill) in third.
Takter also trains Gifted Lady and Hollywood Hill (Muscle Hill), who finished fifth.
“All the credit to Jimmy Takter,” said Marvin Katz, the Toronto-based co-owner and co-breeder of All The Time with Al Libfeld. “He developed this filly and was careful with her through the winter. Of course, she’s a homebred. Jimmy Takter trained the mother [Cantab It All] and was kind enough to sell her to myself and to Al. We bred her to Muscle Hill, and this is a topflight filly.”
All The Time has two wins in three career starts and has earned $52,400.
Gingras was back in the winner’s circle with Southwind Frank ($9.00) in the $100,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes for trotting colts and geldings, the seventh race.
The son of Muscle Hill, bred by Southwind Farms, trotted the mile in a stakes record 1:53.4, supplanting Hill I Am (Muscle Hill), who set the mark of 1:55.3 in 2013.
Southwind Frank controlled the tempo through fractions of :27.2, :56.4 and 1:26.2, covering the final quarter in :27.2 for a length and a half victory. Rallying for second was Bar Hopping (Muscle Hill) with Marion Marauder (Muscle Hill) third by a length and three-quarters.
“I wanted to cut the mile; I thought he was the horse to beat,” said Gingras. “I just wanted to have a clear path. My horse was a little bit shaky tonight, and I had to wait on him [to settle]. But I knew if I could keep him trotting, there was no one who would get near.”
Southwind Frank, trained by Ron Burke, won his opening leg of the New Jersey Sire Stakes but broke stride last week. He has banked $60,000 with two wins in three starts for the partnership of Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, Our Horse Cents Stables and J&T Silva Stables. He was a $100,000 Lexington Selected Sale purchase.
In the final division, 3-5 Blue Moon Stride ($3.40) popped out of the pocket at the top of the stretch, claimed the lead in deep stretch and held off Show Time Hill to win the $100,000 New Jersey Stakes for pacing fillies, in the 11th race.
Andrew McCarthy guided the Mark Harder-trained Blue Moon Stride, who paced the mile in 1:53.1, finishing a neck ahead of Show Time Hill. It was a length and a half back to Sonoma Valley in third. All three are daughters of Rocknroll Hanover.
“They’re all good in March, April and May but you just really don’t know until you start racing them,” said Harder. “And she’s shown up good now.”
Blue Moon Stride was bred by Perretti Farms and races for Emilio and Maria Rosati of Condell Park in Australia’s New South Wales. She has two wins in three starts for earnings of $68,750.
Bee A Magician Jogs In Open
The result was never in doubt. That was the consensus of the $26,000 Open Trot on Friday night at The Meadowlands. Released as the odds-on favourite at 20-cents on the dollar, Bee A Magician went straight to the lead off the wings of the gate and that was all she needed to do.
While the 2013 Horse of the Year had to sprint to the opening quarter in :27-seconds, that wasn't the case for the middle-half mile of the race, as Bee A Magician was allowed to stroll through a :30.2 second quarter, picking it up a bit through a :28.4 third panel. But, give Bee A Magician a :59.1 middle half-mile and you simply are not going to catch her. The world champion sprinted to the wire with a :26.2 final quarter to score in 1:52.4. DWs NY Yank held second throughout the mile while Appomattox checked in third. Market Share was too far back and couldn't threaten with the slow fractions, but did trot the fastest final quarter in the race, :26-seconds flat.
Bee A Magician won for the 38th time in 55 starts with earnings now standing at $3,187,386.
The magnificent Kadabra mare is owned by Mel Hartman of Ottawa, Ont., Herb Liverman of Miami Beach, Florida and David McDuffee of Delray Beach, Florida, and is trained by 'Nifty' Norman. Her usual partner, Brian Sears, was in the sulky.
All-sources handle for the Friday card of $2,397,254 yielded a 17 percent gain over this same night last year. Both programs included 13 races.
The 20-cent Jackpot Super Hi-5 in the last race went unclaimed and the carryover into Meadowlands Pace Night will be $202,817.
Post time for Meadowlands Pace Night is 7:15 p.m. The 14-race blockbuster card features eight stakes races, highlighted by the $706,000 Meadowlands Pace, slated as race 10. There are also four guaranteed pools on the program including the $100,000 Guaranteed Pick 4 encompassing races seven through 10. Post time for The Meadowlands Pace is 10:39 p.m.
(With files from SBOANJ and Meadowlands Racetrack)