After disappointing their fan bases in their most recent starts, My Way and Allegiant got into the win column Friday night (July 21) at The Meadowlands by winning their respective $30,000 divisions of the second leg of the New Jersey Sire Stakes for two-year-olds on the trot.
My Way (Muscle Hill-Fine Tuned Lady) broke early a week ago in leg one as the 4-5 favourite but had no such problem on Friday in the first of three splits for colts and geldings, displaying two moves on the way to a 31/4-length score in 1:54.4 to win his second career betting start. Poof Of Record, the 6-5 favourite, was second best.
“He took a bad step and I lost him,” said winning driver Tim Tetrick of last week. “Tonight, he wanted to run on the last turn, but I yelled at him to make him pay attention.”
My Way, a Marcus Melander student, returned $5.80 to win as the 9-5 second choice in the wagering.
Last week, Allegiant (Tactical Landing-Too Good For You) finished second as the 3-5 public choice, but her fans came back for another try, this time at odds of 2-5, and the Vernon Beachy trainee delivered by three-quarters of a length after going a pocket trip in 1:54.2 in the second of three divisions for fillies.
“She’s an excellent horse,” said winning driver Dave Miller. “She tries very hard and has good manners and good speed. Behind the gate, I saw Dexter [Dunn, driving eventual second-place finisher Special Talent] was right on the gate and I was thinking it would be good to get a trip right behind him.”
Now a winner of three of four career starts, Allegiant (pictured above) returned $2.80 to win.
The other fillies emerging victorious were Walcango (Walner-Tamgo Donato) in 1:54.3 for driver Todd McCarthy and trainer Jim Campbell as the 9-2 third choice and Soiree Hanover (Walner-Spring Gala), who stayed perfect in two NJSS outings after scoring in 1:55.4 for Tetrick and Lucas Wallin as the 3-5 public choice.
On the colt and gelding side, Sig Sauer (Muscle Hill-Sigilwig) made his pari-mutuel debut a winning one for Andy McCarthy and Noel Daley in 1:54.4. The 9-5 second choice took down 4-5 favourite Stormcloudfashion, who finished second.
Finally, Mars Hill (Muscle Hill-Cardinale) made it two-for-two in Sire Stakes starts in 1:55.2 for Todd McCarthy and Tony Alagna. After winning last week at odds of 14-1, he once again rewarded his backers, scoring as the 7-1 third choice.
Todd McCarthy led the driver colony with three wins. Alagna’s double paced the trainers.
All-source handle totalled $2,839,183 on the 14-race card.
There were no winning tickets sold on the 20-cent Pick-6, creating a carryover of $6,275 for Saturday night when racing resumes at 6:20 p.m. Free past performances for every race of every Big M card are available by going to playmeadowlands.com.
(Meadowlands Racetrack)