Big
Chocolate, with David Miller at the lines, got up by a head over Market Share
to win the fastest colts’ division in 1:54.3.
The Homer Hochstetler trainee is now two-for-two this season. Last season as a two-year-old, Big Chocolate
hit the board in nine of 11 races and earned $201,560. His victories included a division of the
International Stallion Stakes at The Red Mile and an elimination for the Peter
Haughton at the Meadowlands. Richard Keys of Chicago, IL bred and owns the son
of Chocolatier-Shez Mine.
Vic
Smith, who bested Big Chocolate by nearly five lengths in last year’s NJSS
final, took the first of Friday night’s $17,000 divisions in 1:55.3 with Andy
Miller in the sulky. Margareta
Carlberg’s Mea Trav Inc. of East Windsor, NJ acquired the colt on March 28 from
Miller, his wife, Julie, who continues to train the colt, and their partner
Larry Baron. Vic Smith won six of 11
races and earned $213,275 last season. The son of Yankee Glide-PJ
Naomi was a $30,000 yearling purchase at the Lexington Selected Sale.
Guccio romped to an easy 1:55.1 victory in the remaining split with driver-trainer Jimmy Takter in tow. A son of Yankee Glide out of the mare Southern Senorita, Guccio was a $50,000 yearling purchase at the Lexington Selected Sale by Christina Takter and brothers John and Jim Fielding of Toronto. The colt earned $60,672 in seven starts last year. His lone win was a 1:55.4 score off a pocket trip in the Champlain Stakes at Mohawk.
All
three victors are eligible to the $1.5 million Hambletonian on Saturday, August
4 at the Meadowlands.
Muscles Yankee daughters Shanty Irish and Talbotcreek Jewelry captured the
NJSS splits for sophomore fillies. Burke
Racing Stable and Weaver Bruscemi’s Shanty Irish rebounded from a miscue in her
sophomore debut with a hard-fought victory in rein to Brian Sears. Talbotcreek Jewelry, with Tim Tetrick at the
lines, improved off her effort in the Simpson to post her first win of the
year. Linda Toscano is training the lass
for her Canadian connections, Paula Wellwood and Karen Caroll.
