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g>East Rutherford, NJ — The Saturday (June 15) edition of Breakfast With The Babies, sponsored by Jules Siegel’s Fashion Farms, came an hour earlier at 9 a.m. on a beautiful, windless morning at The Meadowlands with the temperature at 70 degrees and the track fast. Trainer Marcus Melander flaunted his imposing freshman trotting power this morning, winning five of the six colt races while finishing 1-2 in races eight through 11.


Trotting colts got underway in the seventh race where the camera could not separate a closing Hellbent For AM S (Brian Sears) and mile cutter Legion Of Honor (Andy McCarthy) as they crossed the wire, resulting in a dead heat in 1:56/:27.3. Hellbent For AM S (Muscle Hill-Nalda Nof) is an Anders Strom via Courant Inc. homebred trained in the Melander barn while Legion Of Honor (Muscle Hill-Harbour Belle) was a $150,000 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale purchase by Mario Mazza from breeders Steve Stewart and John Carver with Lucas Wallin doing the training. Just as impressive as the top two was the :27 closing kick displayed by third place finisher Real Cool Sam (David Miller), a Fashion Farms homebred.


The Melander stable began the 1-2 binge in race eight when Maesteraemon (Sears) out kicked Speed Ball Swagger (Mattias Melander) for a 2:01.1/:27.4 win. Mahomes (Tetrick) scrambled up for third. The winner is another S R F Stable colt, this one an Andover Hall-Angel Pie that cost $170,000 at the Standardbred Horse Sale and is a Hanover Shoe Farms bred.


Melander came right back with Capricornus (Tetrick) to win in 1:58.2, taking over from stablemate Hollywood Story (Sears) on the way to the 1:00.3 half then moved away from his chief rival under his own power with a :27.3 final quarter. The $110,000 Cantab Hall-Oh My Darlin colt was a Standardbred Horse Sale yearling purchase and is a Windsong Stable bred now owned by JJ Stable.


Sears drove Expectations to a 1:57.2/:27.3 score next, taking over early and finishing in hand over Hell Patrol (Tetrick) and Chaptiama (Trond Smedshammer). Expectations is another son of Muscle Hill, out of Exceed Expectation, bred by Dunroven Stud and sold at the Lexington Selected Sale for $60,000 to Vicky Trotting.

 

The domination continued with Back Of The Neck (Mattias Melander) leading all the way to an easy 1:58/:28.2 win over Hopeusteponalego (Marcus Schoen) and Swiss House Onfire (Ake Svanstedt). Back Of The Neck is a son of Ready Cash-Big Barb, bred by Order By Stable and still shows Order By Stable as owner despite having sold for $150,000 last fall at the Standardbred Horse Sale in Harrisburg.

 

Ake Svanstedt finally put the Melander reign of terror to rest by winning the last of the trotting colt races with the very sharp looking Chapter Seven-Overnight Command colt Third Shift. They tracked Melander trainee Gerard (Schoen) throughout slow fractions before blasting by in a :27.4 end to the 2:01 mile. Jula Trix Treasure (Yannick Gingras) closed it up to be second. The winner was a $235,000 Standardbred Horse Sale yearling purchase by Melby Gard Inc. from breeder Winbak Farm.

 

The day’s opener featured several top bred filly trotters. Bellareina Dolce (Sears) took over past the quarter, rated the middle half then dug in when challenged by Impressive Fashion (David Miller) as they sprinted home in lock-step through a :27.4 end to the 2:00 mile. Oblivion (Tetrick) was a handy third. Lennart Agren owns the daughter of Muscle Hill-Bella Dolce via his S R F Stable, a $400,000 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale buy from breeder David McDuffee. She is trained by Melander.


Gingras saved ground all the way, then found room at the rail late for Queen Of The Hill to eke out a narrow 1:58.4/:27.1 win over a wide and charging Dramatra (Scoot Zeron). Dip Me Hanover (Tetrick) was a good third. Queen Of The Hill is an Explosive Matter-Flyer Mel filly that Al Libfeld paid $110,000 for at the Lexington Selected Sale to secure from breeders Paymaq Racing, Louis Willinger and James Bafia. She is trained in the Per Engblom stable.


Gingras took the exact same path to victory in the next race, guiding Becky Lindy (Cantab Hall-Lindys Gone Crazy) to a ground saving 1:59.3/:28.1 score, making it two straight for the driver/trainer duo of Gingras and Engblom. They sat tight in the pocket behind the fractions set by Context (Jan Johnson) before wearing that game rival down very late to get up. Beautiful Mrs A (Marcus Miller) was third in a purposeful trip. Lindy Farms of Connecticut bred the winner, a $35,000 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale purchase by Christina Takter and John Fielding.


Jula Beauty AM made it a hat trick for Gingras and Engblom, coming wide from well back to track down the leaders late in the stretch and get a narrow win over Common Sense S (Svanstedt) in 2:00.2 with her final quarter in :27.3. Musclesandmascara (Dexter Dunn) rallied late for third. Jula Racing owns the Muscle Hill-Beauty Of Gray filly, an $85,000 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale yearling bred by AM Bloodstock.


Senorita Rita (Zeron) gave the crowd a thrill with an impressive gate-to-wire, 1:57.4 win, trotting home in :27.1 under no urging. Shishito (Tetrick) actually gained in the stretch to get up for the place over Seventimesalady (Svanstedt). Ken Jacobs paid $285,000 at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale for Senorita Rita, a Chapter Seven-Lindys Head Nurse lass bred by Our Horse Cents Stables. Linda Toscano is the trainer.


Caviart Ava was a winner for McCarthy in a front end effort this morning, finishing her 1:58.4 mile with a :28.1 last quarter with something left. Electrapedia (Svanstedt) got up to be second over Mission US (Mattias Melander). The Trixton-Caviart Elle filly is a Caviart Farms homebred, trained by Nancy Johansson.


The pacers came around after a training break and Tony Alagna fillies finished 1-2 in 1:57.2/:27.3 with Never Ever Forget (Dunn) closing to get up over the inside horses and holding off Reflect With Me (McCarthy) who lost ground early, breaking while leading before the :59.2 half before making a nice recovery. Both fillies are by Captaintreacherous, the winner a daughter of Credit Rating, an $85,000 Lexington Selected Sale purchase by Alagna And Inthegym, VJ Stable, Bill Donovan and Joe Sbrocco from AM Bloodstock.


Alagna sent out Lady Lou (McCarthy) to win the 14th after leading all the way in 1:54 with a :27 end to hold Baby Your the Best (David Miller) and Rocknificient (Tetrick) at bay while becoming the fastest freshman filly pacer of 2019. The daughter of Sweet Lou-Bolt Of Thunder was bred by Robert Hamather and went through the Standardbred Horse sale for $55,000 to Brad Grant.


Capt Midnight (McCarthy) became the fastest freshman pacing colt of the season for Tony Alagna when he won the 15th race in 1:52.3/:26.2 from the pocket over a stubborn Freedom Warrior (Tetrick) with Captain Nemo (Dunn) third. The Captaintreacherous-It Was Fascination full brother to Captain Trevor is a Hanover Shoe Farms bred and was a $350,000 Standardbred Horse Sale yearling purchase by Marvin Katz, Ken Jacobs, Brad Grant and Capt Midnight Racing.


Genius Man (Marcus Miller) took the last 2-year-old race of the day with an impressive gate-to-wire, 1:54.4/:26.4 win, holding sway over Force N Fury (Dunn) and He Refuses To Lose (Matt Kreuger). The winner is an Art Major-Unred Hanover colt who was an $87,000 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale purchase by Ron Michelon and Daniel Plouffe from breeder Winbak Farm. Erv Miller is the trainer.