Meadowlands: Fast As The Wind blows away foes in Valley Victory

Fast As The Wind backed up his victory in the championship of the Kindergarten Classic Series a week ago with a 1:53 2/5 score in the $413,600 Valley Victory final for 2-year-old colt and gelding trotters on Saturday night at the Meadowlands.

Driven by Dexter Dunn from the pole position, Fast As The Wind showed some speed and pocketed up behind Coach K Hanover (Ake Svanstedt) before the 27 3/5 opening quarter. Matron champion Threepointbluechip (James MacDonald) also tried to get involved from the outside, but he got rough-gaited and dropped back to trail the group.

In the second quarter, Andy McCarthy elected to tip and roll out of third with Slay, and he was able to wrestle control away from Coach K Hanover coming to the 55 1/5 half. Coach K Hanover would make a brief break after yielding, giving the two-hole back to Fast As The Wind and putting Coach K Hanover first-over on the final bend after he got back on-stride.

Slay continued to show the way to the 1:24 2/5 three-quarters and turned for home first, but he couldn't polish it off, with Coach K Hanover and a second-over Pretender (Yannick Gingras) forging past him in mid-stretch. However, Fast As The Wind also found room on the inside, and he had the most trot, getting up to win by half a length. Coach K Hanover finished second, Pretender third, Threepointbluechip fourth, and Slay fifth. There were inquiries looking at both Coach K Hanover's break and Threepointbluechip getting rough beyond the start, but both were left where they finished.

► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter

"He was good early, but then he got some sickness like a lot of our horses did in Lexington. When we left Lexington, he just started to come out of the sickness. Since he's been back here at the Meadowlands he's been phenomenal," said winning trainer Tony Alagna. "Early in the year he was third in the Peter Haughton, and we thought we had a real player until the sickness hit him in Lexington. This horse has had more starts than we normally race a 2-year-old trotter, but he actually just coming back into himself, so we said why not, and look what he's done.

"He's very tactical, and I think that'll make him a nice horse going into next year, too. He can leave, he can sit, he can do it a lot of different ways. I think that's going to make him a real player next year as well."

A Cantab Hall-Wind Stroll (Muscle Mass) colt bred by Tony Holmes and Walter Zent, Fast As The Wind is trained by Alagna for owners Leblanc & Kribbs, Joe Sbrocco, and Joseph Barbera. A $95,000 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale purchase, he has compiled a record of 5-1-3 from 15 starts, and he has now pocketed $568,075. He was the favorite and paid $3.40 to win.