Meadowlands: Altar, Southwind Tyrion lead NJSS champions

The 2020 New Jersey Sire Stakes contests for 2-year-olds at the Meadowlands came to a conclusion on Friday night with two $160,000 finals for trotters and a pair of $96,000 championship events for pacers.

Altar would win the final for filly trotters, leading through panels of 28 1/5, 58, and 1:27 1/5 on her way to a 1:54 4/5 tally with David Miller at the lines. She defeated fellow Per Engblom trainee Material Girl (Tim Tetrick) by 2 3/4 lengths, with Presto (Yannick Gingras) third.

"I actually wanted to get out of there and get on Yannick's back," said Miller. "I thought that would be better. She finished real strong.

"She was so relaxed; I did chirp to her on the far turn, and she did everything on her own from there."

The victorious daughter of Muscle Hill is trained by Engblom for owner/breeder Diamond Creek Farm. Altar, who is now two-for-three in the win column with earnings of $92,500, is out of the Donato Hanover mare Swan Hot Mama, a three-quarter sister to top Indiana-based stallion Swan For All. Altar returned $3.60 to win as the 4-5 favorite.

Southwind Tyrion (Ake Svanstedt) skipped last week's second leg of the sire stakes after winning in the first round, but he was still as tight as a drum, rallying off cover to win the final for male trotters by three lengths in 1:54 flat. Locatelli (Gingras) followed the winner from post ten and was second, with Spy Booth (Tetrick) up for third.

A Muscle Hill colt, Southwind Tyrion is owned by Svanstedt and S R F Stable. Bred by Southwind Farms LLC., he was a $145,000 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale buy and is out of the Cantab Hall mare Taylor Jean. Southwind Tyrion remained perfect in two starts, pushed his bankroll to $92,500, and paid $16.40 to win as a 7-1 offering.

Sunfire Blue Chip gelding Fika Time and Great Vintage filly Anna Jeans both completed sweeps in the pacing events, which were held as non-wagering contests prior to the pari-mutuel program. Fika Time (Tim Tetrick) raced against Neyreit (Mark MacDonald) and defeated him by 8 3/4 lengths in 1:55 4/5 for breeder/owner/trainer Chase Vandervort, and Anna Jeans (Jason Thompson) took advantage of breaks by her rival Neverendingproject (Ceba Horsey) to tally a 32 3/4 length verdict in 2:05 2/5 for breeder/owner/trainer John Urbanski.

--quote courtesy of the Meadowlands--