Ashley Shaffer, Miss New Jersey for 2009, will continue the tradition of meeting the four-legged winner of the Thomas D’Altrui Miss New Jersey Stakes on Saturday, June 12 at the Meadowlands Racetrack
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The $175,000 Miss New Jersey for three-year-old pacing fillies is the companion event for the $500,000 Anthony Abbatiello New Jersey Classic for three-year-old pacing colts. Both stakes are sponsored by the Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association of New Jersey and highlight a program that includes more than $1 million in stakes for New Jersey-sired horses.
The Miss New Jersey and New Jersey Classic share the program with a pair of $200,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes finals for three-year-old trotters.
Shaffer, 23, is from the Perrineville section of Millstone Township and graduated Allentown High School. She earned her bachelor’s degree in broadcast communications, magna cum laude, from Marist College and hopes to pursue a career in law.
She decided to make her service issue "a healthy way to feel great," after struggling with being 40 pounds overweight and seeing her grandmother die from an obesity-related illness. A vocalist, she performed Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot during the talent portion of the Miss New Jersey competition.
(SBOANJ)