Magical Acres Training Center hosted its first set of two-year-old races on Wednesday morning (June 9) with eight total baby races going to post at the New Jersey oval.
Freshmen trotting fillies were first to step onto the track, though the fastest mile of their division came later in the morning with Vogue — a 1:58.3 performer for trainer Per Engblom and driver David Miller. The daughter of Father Patrick took command heading to a :30.1 opening quarter and breezed through splits of 1:01.1 and 1:30.2 to wrap her mile with a :28.1 final quarter. She finished a length better than Mimi Ocean Hanover with Angels Folly finishing another two lengths behind in third.
Trotting colts and geldings travelled in two division, with the quicker mile trotted by Nik Drennan trainee Robertsin. Away third from post 4, driver George Brennan nestled the son of Muscle Hill to stalk fractions of :31.2, 1:03.4 and 1:32.3 before revving for the sprint around the final turn. Once uncorked, Robertsin dashed to the front just at the beam to nose temposetter Senna with a :27.3 final quarter. Castle House finished third.
A pair of qualifiers went to gate for two-year-old pacing colts and geldings. Linda Toscano's Sweet Lou colt Lous Beach set the speed standard of the session with a gate-to-wire 1:55.3 mile. Through fractions of :28.3, :59 and 1:27.1, Lous Beach and driver David Miller held off a late push from Wolftrax by a neck while pocket-sitter Third Power settled for third.
“My pacing colts were really good,” Toscano said to the USTA. “Top Genius has been good but he’s never really showed the kind of speed he showed today. That was good. Lou’s Beach, that was shocking. He does what you ask him to do and he’s happy to do it, but I never knew how much speed he had. Today, he woke up, and was real good too.
Throw The Dice won the lone split for two-year-old pacing fillies with a 1:56.1 mile. Also trained by Linda Toscano in a quintet from her stable, the daughter of American Ideal led through a clip of :30, 1:00 and 1:28.2 to then cap the mile with a :27.4 final quarter while withstanding a pocket pop from Somesweetsomewhere by a nose. Madeira Hanover finished third.
“The fillies went real well and all finished with pretty good pace and did what they were supposed to do. Throw The Dice has been very good training down and she didn’t let me down today. She was really good. Somesweetsomewhere has been getting better as we’re going faster, so I was tickled with her because she finished right on the wire with (Throw The Dice) today.”
The baby races from Magical Acres are available in the broadcast below: