Meadowlands: Confederate headlines Meadowlands Pace eliminations

There were 15 horses dropped in the box on Tuesday, necessitating a pair of $50,000 elimination races on Saturday night for the Meadowlands Pace. Trainer Brett Pelling sends out the probable overall favorite in Confederate in one division, and trainer Shane Tritton makes his Meadowlands Pace debut with Its A Me Mario in the other division.

While Pelling was confident that his horse would reach the July 15 final, Tritton was hopeful after drawing post seven in the sixth race and first division that his horse would be in the top five and qualify for the main event.

"He's a horse I'm just trying to keep happy," said Pelling of Confederate, who landed the pole position among eight in the second $50,000 elimination carded as race 10. "I worked him Monday and I'll work him again tomorrow [Thursday]."

The son of Sweet Lou is fresh off a second-place finish in the North America Cup, and Pelling believes unlike the North America Cup elimination races the Meadowlands Pace elims offer a few options.

"With four eliminations you had to win the elimination to get a good spot for the final," said Pelling. "With the Meadowlands Pace, if he finishes first or second he's assured a good spot."

That said, Pelling was hardly thinking that Confederate wouldn't do as expected on Saturday night given the advantageous draw and the services of Tim Tetrick.

"I think Tim [Tetrick] is confident to put him on the front-end," said Pelling.

There's plenty of firepower in Confederate's division with 2022 Breeders Crown champion Ammo (post two), 2022 Dan Patch winner Stockade Seelster (post three) and trainer Nancy Takter's pair of Christchurch (post six) and Save America (post seven) in the star-studded field.

Confederate is one of four Meadowlands Pace entrants that is owned fully or in part by Diamond Creek Racing. Christchurch is co-owned by Diamond Creek in this division, and the Pelling-trained Combustion joins Cannibal as their two colts in the first split.

"Combustion was sick in the North America Cup, and we had to double the medication to get him back to normal," said Pelling about the starter in elimination one. "I thought he went a good enough trip last week [July 1] to set him up for this race."

Combustion drew post five and will have to overcome some pacing power along the inside in the form of likely favorite Voukefalas (post one) and North America Cup third-place finisher Fulton (post three).

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For much of his life Shane Tritton has been on the outside looking at the Meadowlands Pace from afar. He was fortunate enough to see it live a few years ago.

"When we came on a visit a few years ago I was here the night that Courtly Choice won the Meadowlands Pace," Tritton said of his 2018 trip to New Jersey.

On Saturday he'll be watching from the other side of the fence and hoping that Its A Me Mario can overcome the draw and reach the final.

"I had really high hopes for this horse last year," said Tritton. "After that first qualifier when he paced in (1:)54 with a last quarter in 27, I really thought he was going to dominate in the New York Sire Stakes."

While good enough to finish second in a pair of Sire Stakes races, Its A Me Mario went winless on the season in just five starts.

"We eventually discovered he had sustained an injury to his pastern in a hind leg and had him operated on," said Tritton.

It turns out that discovery transformed Its A Me Mario back into the horse Tritton believed he was throughout his 2-year-old training sessions.

"This year we gave him some easy races at Yonkers and he got better each time," said Tritton. "For me, when we sent him to Vernon for the Sire Stakes it was a bit of a test to see how he'd do over a larger surface."

The result was more than impressive as Its A Me Mario, a son of American Ideal, paced to a career-best 1:49 4/5 mile, and he did it the hard way.

"No one was winning coming first-over that day," said Tritton of the New York Sire Stakes effort.

The trainer became more ambitious after the Vernon victory and put Its A Me Mario into the Messenger Stakes where he'd face open company for the first time. The charted line has him finishing sixth and normally that wouldn't be something a trainer would be excited about.

"I'd say that was probably the best race he's ever gone," said Tritton. "First of all, he was parked every step of the way. Then he was forced three- and then four-wide and no one was going forward in the outer tier."

Not lost on the trainer was the pace of the race that ended with a 1:57 4/5 clocking for the mile and one sixteenth. "They went a 1:50 4/5 mile," said Tritton.

On Saturday, Its A Me Mario will try to stay out of traffic or any kind of trouble and finish in the top five.

"Lauren's going to drive him," said Tritton. "She's only driven him once but that was when he finished second in a $100k race."

Its A Me Mario was second three times to the eventual New York Sire Stakes champion American Fling as a 2-year-old. This year he's won five of six starts.

Voukefalas may prove tough to catch from the inside position for driver Jordan Stratton. The son of Lazarus prepped smartly with a 1:50 4/5 qualifier on July 1 over the Meadowlands surface. The New Jersey Sire Stakes champion lacked room for much of the mile in the North America Cup final and wound up fourth.

Fulton has never been worse than third in his 14-race career for trainer Linda Toscano and like Confederate has not raced since the North America Cup final. The Heston Blue Chip-sired colt was a winner of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship as a 2-year-old and earned a 1:48 2/5 career-best clocking while capturing a North America Cup elimination heat.

The Diamond Creek-owned Cannibal is one of three for Nancy Takter in the Meadowlands Pace eliminations. The Sweet Lou-sired homebred landed post two and enters the race having won all three of his starts as a sophomore but none against this caliber of competition.

Post time for the 14-race card at the Meadowlands, which also includes two Graduate Series finals as races eight and nine, is 6:20 P.M. (EDT).

Meadowlands Pace 1st Elimination

PP-HORSE-DRIVER/TRAINER-M/L

1. Voukefalas (Jordan Stratton, Michael Russo), 2-1
2. Cannibal (Scott Zeron, Nancy Takter), 3-1
3. Fulton (Dexter Dunn, Linda Toscano), 5-2
4. Hungry Angel Boy (Yannick Gingras, Tony Alagna), 8-1
5. Combustion (Todd McCarthy, Brett Pelling), 6-1
6. Bamboozler (David Miller, Virgil Morgan Jr.), 12-1
7. Its A Me Mario (Lauren Tritton, Shane Tritton), 15-1

Meadowlands Pace 2nd Elimination

PP-HORSE-DRIVER/TRAINER-M/L

1. Confederate (Tim Tetrick, Brett Pelling), 5-2
2. Ammo (David Miller, Joe Holloway), 8-1
3. Stockade Seelster (Jody Jamieson, Dr. Ian Moore), 3-1
4. Gung Ho (Yannick Gingras, Ron Burke), 10-1
5. El Rey (Scott Zeron, Tony Alagna), 10-1
6. Christchurch (Dexter Dunn, Nancy Takter), 7-2
7. Save America (Andy McCarthy, Nancy Takter), 6-1
8. Lyons Surfing (Joe Bongiorno, Jim King Jr.), 12-1