The
Meadowlands Racetrack will stage four $150,000 New Jersey Sires Stakes finals
for three-year-olds on Saturday, June 2, complementing the track’s first Made
In New Jersey Weekend. The festival will
feature the state’s best arts and crafts vendors, a Battle
of the Bands, craft beer and wine tastings, and BBQ competition in Paddock
Park from 5-10 pm Friday and
Saturday.
It’s
no surprise trainer Jimmy Takter will be the one to beat in the final for colt
and gelding trotters [race four] with division winners Guccio [post seven] and
Little Brown Fox [post one]. After
winning morning qualifiers in 1:56.1 and 1:54.2, Guccio romped in his round one
NJSS split in 1:55.1 with Takter in the bike.
The son of Yankee Glide skipped the second leg of the series. He is owned by Takter’s wife, Christina of
East Windsor, NJ, and brothers John and Jim Fielding of Toronto,
Ontario.
After
a third-place finish in the first leg, Little Brown Fox battled back to beat
Vic Smith [post two] to win his round one division in a career best
1:54.1. Takter was also in the sulky
behind the Muscles Yankee colt, owned by Christina Takter, John and Jim
Fielding, and Brittany Farms of Versailles, KY.
“He’s
gotten bigger and stronger, and he’s a top level colt,” said Takter. “He qualified well and beat some good horses
in those miles. With a loud concert next
door he got a little nervous and anxious in the paddock prior to his first race
back [on May 18]. I almost lost him
behind the gate, but he was more comfortable before he won last week. This horse has a lot of ability and I expect
him to be right up there with the top colts.”
Just
weeks away from his Hall of Fame induction, Takter has enjoyed a great
partnership with John and Jim Fielding, who have a Hambletonian prospect in
Breeders Crown champion Uncle Peter, and, also co-own Dan Patch Award winner
See You At Peelers.
“John
and Jim Fielding have owned horses with us for a long time,” Takter said. “Now we have about 30 horses together. Our relationship is beyond just being
owners. They’re good when they win or
lose, they love harness racing, and fortunately we’ve had a lot of success.”
Takter
will also send out a pair of colts in the final for colt and gelding pacers
[race six], Simply Business [post nine] and Time To Roll [post one], a first
leg winner in 1:50.4. They will have to
go through the ultra-impressive I Fought Dalaw [post five], who will look for
the series sweep.
Trained
by Sam De Pinto and driven by Dave Miller, I Fought Dalaw has reeled off
eye-catching scores of 1:50.2 and 1:50.4, from posts eight and nine,
respectively. As a freshman, the son of
Western Ideal won the New Jersey Sires Stakes final in 1:50.4.
“I
Fought Dalaw matured and filled out in all the right ways,” noted De
Pinto. “I let out his hopples two inches
since last year because his stride is definitely longer. I had an open bridle on him in his two
qualifiers, yet I went back to a closed bridle.
He trained really well in it and responds much better. In his second qualifier, another horse made a
bobble, it kind of spooked him, and he went to the lead, but there are no
issues controlling his speed.”
The
$22,000 yearling buy at the Lexington Selected Sale, now has earnings of
$232,491 for Sam De Pinto’s wife, Shannon of Cream Ridge, NJ, Teresa and Jerry
Silva of Long Beach, NY,
and Michael Parisi of Allentown,
NJ.
The $1.5 million North America Cup on Saturday, June 16 is on his
agenda, and the colt is eligible to the $800,000 Meadowlands Pace on Saturday,
July 14.
Trainer
Linda Toscano has a trio of starters in the finals on Saturday: Market Share, Talbotcreek Jewely and Air
Guitar Hanover. In the 3-Year-Old Colt
and Gelding Trot [race 4], Market Share [post 3] comes off a sharp score in the
fastest division, a 1:53.1 career best with Tim Tetrick at the lines. The son of Revenue S is owned by Richard
Gutnick of Blue Bell, PA and Gary Cocco of New
Town Square, PA.
“I
didn’t actually know what to expect from Market
Square on the mile track because he’s not exactly the
biggest horse in the world,” admitted Toscano.
“He’s so suited to the small track because he’s so quick off the
gate. I thought he raced real brave the
week before when he was second [by a head] to Big Chocolate. We took advantage when that one made a break
the other night, but we were real pleased with our colt. In the Dexter Cup final he threw a shoe. They were fine when he left the paddock, but
he somehow spun one off. He’ll go to
Mohawk for the Goodtimes next. He’s
eligible to everything including the Hambletonian, and last week was an eye
opener for us.”
Toscano
was fourth in last year’s Hambletonian with Chapter Seven, who qualified in a
sizzling 1:51.4 on May 26 at the Big M.
“I
knew Chapter Seven was a top horse, but I really didn’t expect that kind of
mile so early in the season,” exclaimed Toscano. “The track was lightning fast and I told Tim
[driver Tim Tetrick] to let him finish.
Tim said repeatedly he really didn’t think he was going that fast. Chapter Seven will get the week off, qualify
again, then go in the Titan Cup [eliminations on June 23].”
Toscano
also sends out Talbotcreek Jewely [post nine] in the 3-Year-Old Filly Trot
final [race three]. The daughter of Muscles
Yankee cruised in her first leg division in 1:55.2, then made a break and
finished fourth in round two.
Talbotcreek Jewely is owned by P C Wellwood Enterprises of Cambridge,
Ontario and Karen Carroll of Shedden,
Ontario.
“Talbotcreek
Jewely was very good in her first two starts here, then last week she got
lugging in a bit,” noted Toscano. “We
had changed her shoes, lightened her up a bit and maybe we shouldn’t have done
that. Yet, we’re also not sure if she
just likes it on the lead or wants to come out of a hole. When I train her again I’ll get a better
handle on it.”
Air
Guitar Hanover
[post one] goes into the 3-Year-Old Filly Pace final [race five] with a third
and a fourth in her preliminary divisions.
The Rocknroll Hanover filly is owned by Stake Your Claim Stable of
Secaucus, NJ and Seth Coen of Brooklyn,
NY.
“She’s
no world beater, but an honest little horse who can leave the gate well,”
Toscano. “She did not want to go up the
inside the other night. She had a lot of
pace and enough room, but she hesitated.
She’d rather tip to the outside like most horses.”
Trainer
Casie Coleman will fire a solid one-two punch in the 3-Year-Old Filly Pace
final [race five] with Sarandon Blue Chip [post two] and Ram Rocker [post
six]. Sarandon Blue Chip won her career
debut last week with a sterling rally in 1:51.2 with Dave Miller in the
sulky. The $92,000 yearling by Western
Ideal is owned by Coleman of Cambridge, Ontario and Tom Hill of Lancashire,
England. Her dam is the Breeders Crown
champion Molly Can Do It.
“I
originally saw her a month or two before the sale as a yearling at Blue Chip
Farms,” said Coleman. “I absolutely
loved her and was going to try my best to buy her. She’s just very big and as a two-year-old I
knew she was highly talented, but I was just going to hurt her. I was only in 2:20 with her, then I turned
her out. I let her mature into herself
and took her to Florida
with me. She’s trained back like a
monster. She’s staked to
everything. If she’s good enough, we’ll
try the Fan Hanover. I thought she’d get
better as the year went on. Her race the
other night was quite impressive.”
Ram
Rocker, a daughter of Rocknroll Hanover,
also owned by Coleman and Tom Hill, finished third in her 2012 comeback and Big
M debut.
“I
had high hopes for her last year, but she was a disappointment,” Coleman
said. “She was kind of stuck around 1:53
and couldn’t give me much more, so I turned her out early. I believe Sarandon Blue Chip is the better
one of my two. Ram Rocker only had the
lone qualifier. I trained her at the
Meadowlands in 1:53, but she’s not really a front end horse. When Dave [driver Dave Miller] made the
front, he said he thought somebody would come around him, but they
didn’t.”
