Alagna has five winners at Breakfast With The Babies

East Rutherford, NJ – The Meadowlands Saturday morning harness racing fan favorite Breakfast With The Babies (BWTB), sponsored by Fashion Farms, began at 9:00 AM today (June 18) under comfortable conditions for this time of year with temperatures in the 70’s and no rain in sight. The wind today was considerable and against the horses in the stretch.

On North America Cup day when most of today’s participants will soon be off to Canada for one of racing’s biggest days that will feature many graduates of last year’s BWTB programs, trainer Tony Alagna won the day with five training successes over the 17 2-year-old races carded, while Yannick Gingras drove four winners.

The opener featured filly trotters and Secret Volo (Walner, Brian Sears) got up out of the pocket to edge by Moni Lisa (Gingras), who had taken over just past the 1:00.3 half, in 1:57.3, home in 29.1 into the wind. Marcus Melander trains the winner, a $40,000 Lexington Selected Sale (LEX) graduate, for Fred Persson, SD Heights Stable, Rick Wahlstedt and Kenneth Kjellgren. Jorgen Jahre, Jr. and Kentuckiana Farms bred the filly.

Race two confirmed that the wind is taking a toll, particularly on the leaders, as Royal Filly (Chapter Seven, Dexter Dunn) also emerged from a pocket trip in the stretch to get the win in 2:00 / 29.3, holding off Bella Macchiato’s (Gingras) late rally. The filly is trained in the Tony Alagna barn for Crawford Farms. Jonas Schlabach is listed as the breeder, although there is no auction information or price listed.

Brunella (Father Patrick, Gingras) rallied late by Danielle Hall (Ake Svanstedt), who had set all the fractions, for the 1:58.4 / 29.3 win, her second in as many starts. The winner, trained by Nancy Takter for Christina Takter and Goran Falk who bred and own the filly.

Mambacita (Tactical Landing, David Miller) made a mockery of any perceived bias and went right down the road in 1:58.2 off a half in 1:01.1, trotting strong into the stretch headwind in 28.2 to win by open lengths. Piano Bar (Svanstedt) followed loosely the whole way and did hold second. Mambacita is from the first crop of Tactical Landing, the filly was an $80,000 (LEX) purchase by trainer Tony Alagna as Alagna Racing, breeder Crawford Farms and Pryde Stables, Inc.

Race five went to Exile (Walner, Dunn) who cut the mile and held sway by a diminishing margin over Paradise Lindy (Gingras) in 1:59.4 / 29.3. This royally bred filly demanded $800,000 (LEX) at auction last fall from Brixton Medical, Caviart Farms, trainer Nancy Takter and breeder Diamond Creek Racing.

Pacing colts came up after a break and the $300,000 Captaintreacherous colt Save America (Gingras) set all the fractions and moved away from his rivals late in 1:56.2 / 28.1 with something left. Admiral Hanover (Tetrick) made a late rally to get up for second. The winner is another Nancy Takter trainee, this time for the partnership of 3 Brothers Stable and Caviart Farms. Breeder Fred Hertrich sold the precocious colt at the Standardbred Horse Sales (SHS) last fall.

Tony Alagna sent out a “Captain” colt named El Rey (Dunn) who rallied wide off cover to track down Undeniablebluechip (Sears) in the final strides of the 1:56.2 / 27.4 mile under minimal encouragement from the driver. Brittany Farms, Steve Head and Larry Denley share ownership of El Rey with breeder Riverview Breeding.

It’s My Show (Scott Zeron) knifed through late with plenty of pace to get up over Can’t Stop Lou (Gingras) with Blue Lou (Andy McCarthy) completing the Sweet Lou trifecta in 1:55.2 / 28. It’s My Show is a Richard & Joanne Young homebred from their great world champion Put On A Show is trained by Linda Toscano.

Colt trotters began with race nine and Dire Straits (Muscle Hill), driven by his trainer Mattias Melander, impressed once again with a last to first stretch brush through the 30.1 final quarter to track down Sevecheetah (Trond Smedshammer), the mile in 1:59. This colt was bred by Richard Gutnick, who now owns him in partnership with Tom Pontone and Gary Cocco.

Winner’s Bet was ultra-impressive this morning as driver Yannick Gingras insisted the son of Walner come back to him and sit in fourth as the early lead changed hands several times, with Five Stars (Sears) the last to cross over just before the 59.4 half.

Things picked up considerably with a :28 flat third panel and as the field turned home, Gingras had Winner’s Bet clear in the four path and he rolled on by under his own power in 1:58. Five Stars stayed on for second. The winner was a $200,000 (LEX) purchase last fall by Lindy Farms of Connecticut and Robert Rudolph from breeder SRF Stable.

SRF Stable came right back with a winner in race 11 when Oh Well (Muscle Hill, Tetrick) won his second in as many tries from well back in 2:00.4 / 29.3 with International Man (Gingras) closing inside for second. Concord Stud Farm is the breeder of Oh Well and they collected $530,000 (SHS) for the colt last fall. He is trained in the Marcus Melander barn.

SRF struck again in race 12 with Gates Hanover, a $135,000 (LEX) Walner colt, coming from just off the leaders in a 2:01.1 / 30- mile. The Ake Svanstedt trained and driven colt was bred by Hanover.

Melander sent out the sharp looking Muscle Hill colt Upstaged (Tetrick) who impressed with a front-end effort two weeks back and demonstrated versatility today, waiting patiently for the “Go” signal from the driver then tracking down mile cutter White Lightning (D. Miller) for a 2:00.2 / 29.1 win. Jim Avritt bred the colt, who extracted a $40,000 (SHS) winning bid from Stall TZ.

Finally, the pacing fillies closed out the card beginning with race 14 where Diamondsnpearls (Captaintreacherous) won the for second time at BWTB and was just as impressive as the first. Gingras settled the filly just in behind the lead through workman-like fractions and when he asked, she took off, closing in 28.1 to hold off Lisa Lane (Patrick Ryder) for the 1:55.4 win. Diamondsnpearls is a Brittany Farms & Marvin Katz homebred.

Show Me Magic (Tetrick) was a sharp winner for the Cullipher barn, converting a perfect pocket trip into a 2:00 / :29 win over pace-setter Lazin On The Beach (Andy Miller). The top two are Lazarus fillies, the first crop of that International star are showing up and they’ll get their chance to shine next Friday with the first leg of the New Jersey Sires Stakes for pacers. Trainer Jeff Cullipher owns the $20,000 (LEX) Deo Volente Farm bred lass in partnership with Pollack Racing.

The first foal of the top race mare Penpal, Treacherous Penny (Captaintreacherous, Todd McCarthy) was a winner at first asking for trainer Tony Alagna. McCarthy had the filly settled in third as Reggae Hanover (Dunn) set an honest pace then had clear sailing up the pegs as the leader bore out and was a 1:56.1 / 28.4 winner. Bred by Pat Lachance and M&M Harness Racing, Treacherous Penny was a $150,000 (LEX) buy for Rob Leblanc, Big Al’s Stable, Caviart Farms and John Fodera.

Another daughter of a great race mare brought the curtain down on today’s BWTB when Bellisima Hanover (Captaintreacherous, Todd McCarthy) went all the way in 1:58.2 / 28.3 over Seashell (Andy McCarthy) for the Alagna stable.

“Bellisima” is from Alagna and Myron and Stephanie Bell’s wonderful Bedroomconfessions, who won over $1 million in her racing career, and went through the ring for $400,000 (LEX). She was Tony’s fifth winner of the day and he owns her in partnership with the Bell’s Riverview Breedeing, Caviart Farms, Daniel Plouffe and Steve Head.

Racing tonight at The Meadowlands starts at 6:20 and it’s Hamburger Day with several local specialists competing for cash and trophies. As always, free programs are available on the web.

For complete qualifier results, click here.

by Nick Salvi, for The Meadowlands