Meadowlands: Hat trick for Engblom in New Jersey Sire Stakes

New Jersey Sire Stakes action for 2-year-olds continued on Friday night at the Meadowlands with three $25,000 splits for trotting males, a pair of $25,000 sections for trotting fillies, and one $20,000 split each for pacers. Trainer Per Engblom swept the filly trots and also won one colt and gelding trot.

Engblom's triple started with leg one winner Mon Amour (Dexter Dunn), who won the last colt and gelding trot in 1:56. He controlled things through an easy tempo of 28 3/5, 59, and 1:28 3/5, and just like he did a week ago, kept Marcus Melander trainees Iznogoud AM (Brian Sears) and Moonstone (Mattias Melander) at bay to the wire, winning by a neck.

Bred by D Farm LLC., Muscle Hill colt Mon Amour was a $180,000 Lexington Selected buy for Al Libfeld, Marvin Katz, Lynn Katz, and Sam Goldband. Mon Amour, the second foal out of the Donato Hanover mare Mind Meld, was the 3-5 favorite and paid $3.20 to win.

In the first of the filly trot clashes, Altar (David Miller) went first-over from third on the far turn, got a chance to drop to the inside and draft behind leader Beautiful Game (Dunn) in the lane, then swung back out and chased down the pace-setter in the dying strides to score by a neck in 1:54 4/5. Wet My Whistle (Ake Svanstedt) took third.

Altar is trained by Engblom for owner/breeder Diamond Creek Farm. She's a daughter of Muscle Hill and is out of the Donato Hanover mare Swan Hot Mama, a three-quarter sister to top Indiana-based stallion Swan For All. Altar broke her maiden in her second chance and returned $16.00 to win as a 7-1 shot.

Dunn and Engblom joined forces again in the second of the two filly trots, and Material Girl took a hard-fought win from first-over for the duo, just getting by leader Chablis (Andrew McCarthy) on the wire in a 1:55 3/5 mile. Eaza Pass (D. Miller) closed well for third.

The winning daughter of Muscle Hill is owned by John Fielding, Clay Horner, and Herb Liverman and was bred by Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld. A $60,000 Lexington acquisition, she is out of the Andover Hall mare Lilu Hanover. Material Girl, who was third a week ago, was dispatched at 4-1 and paid $10.20 to win.

Heartbreak Hill (D. Miller) won the first 2-year-old colt and gelding trot dash in 1:54 3/5, rallying by leader Spy Booth (Yannick Gingras) from the pocket in the lane to prevail by a length and a half in 1:54 3/5, and then Gingras came back with Locatelli in the second split, winning on the front-end in 1:54 4/5 and bettering Narzario (Dunn) by two lengths.

A 31-1 shot, Heartbreak Hill is trained by Marcus Melander for owner Stefan Granath. Bred by Capital Equine LLC., Heartbreak Hill was a $90,000 Lexington buy and is out of the Angus Hall mare Allmar Surprise. Heartbreak Hill, who was fifth last Friday, returned $64.40 to win.

Locatelli, a Muscle Hill-Girlie Tough colt, is trained by Nancy Takter for owners John Fielding, Steve Heimbecker, and Black Horse Racing. The Hanover Shoe Farms-bred was taken out of the Standardbred Horse Sale a year ago for $170,000 and rebounded after breaking before the start a week ago. He paid $8.00 to win as the 3-1 third choice.

The pacing events were both held as non-wagering races. The colt and gelding pace was again a match race between Sunfire Blue Chip gelding Fika Time (Tim Tetrick) and Lis Mara colt Neyreit (Mark MacDonald), and Fika Time led and defeated his rival by 4 3/4 lengths in 1:56 3/5 for breeder/owner/trainer Chase Vandervort. After getting a walkover in leg one of the filly pace, Anna Jeans, a daughter of Great Vintage, took on Neverendingproject (Ceba Horsey) this Friday, and Anna Jeans improved to two-for-two, scoring by a length and three-quarters in 2:03 2/5 for driver Jason Thompson and breeder/owner/trainer John Urbanski.