McArdles Star and Dawns Legacy paced career bests en route to winning their respective finals of the Lou Babic Memorial on Saturday at Freehold Raceway.
McArdles Star prevailed in the second race, the $128,875 open division, in 1:55 while Dawns Legacy scored her first career tally in the sixth race, the $82,410 fillies division, in 1:56.2.
The Lou Babic Memorial Finals are restricted to New Jersey-sired two-year-old pacers and are sponsored by the New Jersey Sire Stakes.
McArdles Star, who is a son of McArdle and was driven to victory by Daniel Dube for trainer Richard Bilach, posted his second win with three seconds and one third in nine starts and lifted his earnings to $117,597 for owner Troy Stewart of Sayreville, NJ.
The first foal of $100,000-earner Cost Efficient, he was bred by Dr. Charles Scher's Downunder Horses Inc. of Ocean, NJ.
McArdles Star [$10.40, $3.80] finished a length and a half ahead of Fireintheshark [$3.20], a son of Cams Card Shark. The field of four had no show wagering.
Dawns Legacy [$14.60, $7.00, $3.00], a daughter of Western Ideal, scored a seven-length victory over Arbeedo [$5.20, $2.80]. Smilesplace [$2.40] was third by 10 lengths. Both are daughters of Artsplace.
Dawns Legacy, driven by Cat Manzi and trained by Anthony Mannino, picked up her first victory in seven career starts. She has three seconds and two thirds to her credit and has banked $54,805 for Frederick Schwartz of Livingston, NJ; Shirley Schwartz of Totowa, NJ and Maureen and Stanley Kuchar's Shore Thing Stables LLC of Saddle River, NJ.
A $47,000 Lexington Selected Sale purchase, Dawns Legacy is out of $393,000 earner Dawn Q and a half-sister or full-sister to a five with earnings that range from $125,000 to $474,000.
The stakes records of 1:54.4 for the fillies, set by Michelles Fantasy in 1999, and 1:53.2 for the colts by Western Ace in 2005 remained untouched.
The Babic Finals, worth a combined $211,285, are named in memory of one of the founders of the New Jersey Sire Stakes program.
(NJSS)