NJSS winners bounce back

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – After disappointing their fan bases in their most recent starts, My Way (Muscle Hill-Fine Tuned Lady) and Allegiant (Tactical Landing-Too Good For You) got into the win column Friday night (Jul. 21) at The Meadowlands by winning their respective $30,000 harness racing divisions of the second leg of the New Jersey Sire Stakes for 2-year-olds on the trot.

My Way broke early a week ago in leg one as the 4-5 favorite but had no such problem Friday in the first of three splits for colts and geldings, displaying two moves on the way to a 3¼-length score in 1:54.4 to win his second career betting start. Poof Of Record, the 6-5 favorite, 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 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 returned $2.80 to win.

AND THE OTHER WINNERS WERE: 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 parimutuel debut a winning one for Andy McCarthy and Noel Daley in 1:54.4. The 9-5 second choice took down 4-5 favorite 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.

A LITTLE MORE: Todd McCarthy led the driver colony with three wins. … Alagna’s double paced the trainers. … There were no winning tickets sold on the 20-cent Pick-6, creating a carryover of $6,275 for Saturday night. … Free past performances for every race of every Big M card are available by going to playmeadowlands.com. … All-source handle totaled $2,839,183 on the 14-race card. … Racing resumes Saturday at 6:20 p.m.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Dave Little, for The Meadowlands