Meadowlands: Bond leads from start to finish in Goldsmith Maid final

Bond was uncontested through a soft middle-half of 59 4/5 and out-sprinted her foes in the stretch to capture the $475,400 Goldsmith Maid final for 2-year-old trotting fillies on Saturday night at the Meadowlands in 1:54.

Trainer-driver Ake Svanstedt shot Bond to the front from post nine, and she would carve out an opening quarter in 26 4/5. She was pursued by Tony Alagna trainees Heart On Fire (Todd McCarthy) and Mambacita (Yannick Gingras) in second and third, and they would continue in that order through a 56 2/5 half.

Right around that half-mile marker, Brunella (Jimmy Takter) broke while sitting fifth, which impacted the outer tier and kept those closest to Bond on the pylons as three-quarters went on the board in just 1:26 3/5, setting the stage for dash to the wire.

Coming off the bend, Bond quickly opened a gap on Heart On Fire, who came up empty from the two-hole, and Bond remained in charge to the wire, defeating Mambacita by a couple of lengths. Blonde Bombshell (David Miller) got up for third, followed by Heart On Fire and Check Her Out (Andy McCarthy).

► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter

"It's easy to be the driver when you have a horse like her," said Svanstedt, who saw Bond pick up where his Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Filly Trot champion Special Way left off. "We turned her out after the [Pennsylvania] sire stakes final; we didn't take her to Lexington or the Breeders Crown. We looked for the Kindergarten final and this race," said Svanstedt, who added he's looking forward to racing Bond again next year.

A daughter of Southwind Frank owned by Ake Svanstedt Inc., Little E LLC., and L Berg Inc., Bond was bred by Diamond Creek Farm and cost $80,000 at the 2021 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale. She has seven wins and two seconds from nine tries, pushed her earnings to $599,149, and paid $2.80 to win as the favorite.

"I've got to give all the credit to Sarah and Ake [Svanstedt]," said co-owner Jeff Gural of Little E LLC. "They told me this was a good horse. They said, 'We have a plan.' I said, 'You know plans never work out in this business,' but it worked out. I've been doing this 40 years and I think it's the first plan that ever worked exactly how the trainer said it would work."