MY WAY, ALLEGIANT MAKE AMENDS IN NJSS AT BIG M

Saturday, July 22, 2023

After disappointing their fan bases in their most recent starts, My Way and Allegiant got into the win column Friday night at The Meadowlands by winning their respective $30,000 divisions of the second leg of the New Jersey Sire Stakes for 2-year-olds on the trot.

My Way (Muscle Hill-Fine Tuned Lady) 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 (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 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.

PHOTO: My Way and driver Tim Tetrick win a division of the New Jersey Sire Stakes for 2-year-old colt and gelding trotters Friday night at The Meadowlands. (Credit: Lisa Photo)