Shock It To Em electrified the field Friday at The Meadows, overwhelming his Pennsylvania Stallion Series foes by 12 lengths in a stakes record 1:53.2.
The $160,000 event for two-year-old colt and gelding pacers was conducted over eight divisions, with McAlvin, UF Dragons Cruiser, Some Heart Throb, Mommas Jolt, Hefty Lefty, Jins Dragon and Storm The Beach also taking $20,000 splits. Three drivers — Dave Palone (4), Aaron Merriman (2), Eric Ledford (2) — collected all the stake wins while trainer Jim Campbell enjoyed a stake double with Some Heart Throb and Mommas Jolt. Ledford finished the 16-race card with five victories.
The track was rated “good” following day-long rain, but Shock It To Em wasn’t slowed a bit. The son of Western Terror-Tootsie burst to the lead from the rail for Palone, gave the cold shoulder to the quarter-poling Counterterror and cruised home from there. Just A Jolt was second while Counterterror, who was able to return to the pylons following the snub, saved show.
“I think they dropped him in the stallion series rather than the sires stakes to make sure his manners were perfect — they were,” Palone said. “That was an incredible mile on an off track. He felt too good for me to let that other horse go. I wasn’t going to take any chances and get stuck in the deuce.”
The time shattered the previous stake record of 1:55 established last year by Move It Forward. Chris Oakes trains Shock It To Em for Hauser Bros. Racing, Chuck Pompey, Susan Oakes and Timothy Cable.
McAlvin captured his second straight in the stallion series with an uncovered move that carried him to victory in 1:54.3 for Ledford, trainer Robert Krenitsky Jr. and owner Julie Krenitsky. Come And Getem was second, four and three-quarter lengths back, with Will Kane third.
“He’s the first foal out of the dam — that’s what I liked about him,” the trainer said of the McArdle-Grand Style gelding, a $7,500 yearling acquisition. “He has a lot of speed. I knew training him down he was a nice colt. We might try him in a sires stake next.”
UF Dragons Cruiser followed first-over cover to victory for Merriman in 1:55.1, downing Eddie Sweat, who recovered from an early break, by a neck. Muscle Beachboy completed the ticket.
“He’s a little afraid of the gate, so I just wanted to give him a cover trip and hope he would come home good,” Merriman said. “It couldn’t have worked out any better. He’s good gaited, a nice horse to drive, very smart, and he’ll mature.”
Jim Arledge, Jr. trains the Yankee Cruiser-Shuffles Dragon gelding for Up Front Racing LLC.
In the $22,500 Filly & Mare Preferred Handicap Trot, Action Broadway, who broke stride in her two most recent starts, got back on track with a second-over win, narrowly defeating Firstclassprincess and Trotslikethewind. Merriman drove the five-year-old daughter of Broadway Hall-Photo With Molly for trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. and owner Ken Sommer. Action Broadway now has banked $876,418 in her career.
Saturday kicks off Adios Week at The Meadows. Two eliminations of the $600,000 Delvin Miller Adios go as races four and six, with a pair of Pennsylvania Sires Stakes, each worth an estimated $300,000, also featured. Fourteen of the 16 races on the program are stakes, with first post at 6:55 p.m.
(The Meadows)