Overcast skies this morning accompanied the coffee and chocolate babka for Breakfast With The Babies at The Meadowlands.
John Campbell took a pair of trots, most notably with the regally-bred Muscle Diamond. The son of Muscle Hill from the very accomplished Windylane Hanover added trotting hopples this morning for trainer Brett Bittle and the result was a 1:58.4 win with a 27.2 final quarter. He was a $40,000 buy from the Lexington sale by the Kellers and Bittles who enjoyed such success with his dam.
John won right back with the Lucky Chucky lass A List Lindy for Chuck Sylvester. She took over past the quarter and finished the 2:01 mile with a 29 flat final quarter. She’s owned by Chuck and long-time partner Neal Goldman along with Pinstripe Stable and her breeder, Lindy Farms who sold her at Harrisburg for $60,000 last fall. Shaqline made her first start for Takter in this one and caught some eyes with her finishing kick.
The $450,000 first crop topper for Lucky Chucky, Mr Lucky Luke made his debut today and was second in2:02 with Campbell driving for the Cancelliere brothers. The winner there was Keystone Bodacious, an $85,000 Muscle Massive colt from Balanced Action. He was driven by Corey Callahan for the Jonas Czernyson barn and owners Arden Homestead, Mal & Janet Burroughs, LST Stables and W. Devan, Jr.
Campbell and the Cancelliere boys paired up later with Rock N Roll Heaven colt Raylan Givens for a 1:54.2 score. 'Raylan' set most of the pace and held off the late charge of Shades Of Bay for the win. He’s $135,000 Harrisburg buy from Lisheen, thus a half-brother to the champion older pacer of a few years back, Lis Mara.
A Plus opened the pacing action and the American Ideal filly from Has An Attitude was impressive taking over from Better Said passing the half and sprinting home in 27 flat to close the 1:57.4 mile. Scott Zeron and Tony Alagna picked up where last night left off (they paired for a triple on the card) here with the flashy, blaze faced filly owned by Alagna in partnership with In The Gym Partners, Tangie Massey and Joe Sbrocco.
Shes A Hot Mess was making her fourth morning appearance and the speedy daughter of American Ideal - Sure Fun Tryin flaunted her speed today for Alagna and Zeron with an effortless 1:54 win. With the field scratched down to three, Shes A Hot Mess was left to set the pace and does wander a bit without a target but she sure covers the ground. She’s a homebred owned by the trainer along with the Bell’s Riverview Racing and John Fodera.
Asap Hanover also turned heads this morning with his stretch sprint to win in 1:54.1 for Tim Tetrick. Making his second morning start following up an impressive 1:56.4 six length win last week, 'Asap' ranks high on the list of colt prospects seen this summer. He’s a $150,000 product of the Lexington yearling sale, sired by Somebeachsomewhere from Allamerican Coed. The colt is owned by Ontario's John Mehlenbacher and trained by Linda Toscano.
Live racing resumes tonight at 7:15 as the Meadowlands continues with Corntastic weekend. The race feature is a pair of eleven horse divisions of the $65,000 Reynolds Memorial stake featuring Hambletonian contenders Nuncio and Trixton making their final preparations for that classic two weeks hence.
For results from Saturday's baby races, click the following link: Saturday Baby Races - Meadowlands Racetrack.
(Meadowlands)