Meadowlands: Sangria Summer sizzles in Shady Daisy

Sangria Summer closed out the stakes action on the Hambletonian undercard with a 1:48 1/5 win for driver James MacDonald and trainer Luc Blais in the Grade 3 $123,200 Shady Daisy for 3-year-old pacing fillies.

Darlin's Angel (Lauren Tritton) blasted to the lead from post one in a 26 second opening quarter while Sangria Summer tucked into a three-hole from post seven. Sangria Summer would then be demoted to fourth on the way to the 54 1/5 half as favored Be Perfect BG (Dexter Dunn) moved up on the rim from fifth and cleared Darlin's Angel for command.

Be Perfect BG continued to show the way at three-quarters in 1:21 4/5, but in the lane was confronted on the outside by Darlin's Angel and Sangria Summer, who flushed out and then fanned out off the cover of Car Keys (Andy McCarthy). It was a three-across duel to the wire, and it would be Sangria Summer's 25 4/5 kicker that got her up for the win by a head over Darlin's Angel. Be Perfect BG checked in third.

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"I know Serge Godin had bought her privately and they had high expectations of her," James MacDonald said after the race, "and if you've been following her in Canada - a lot of people might not have seen her - her last few races have just been fabulous. So I knew she was coming in pretty sharp. I was hoping I could work out some kind of a trip and I thought she'd give me a good run at the end."

Luc Blais trains Sangria Summer, a daughter of Captaintreacherous-Shower Play, for Serge Godin's Determination, which purchased this filly after the first start of her sophomore season from Ontario-based trainer Kevin Benn. The filly collected her fourth win from 10 starts this season and her fifth win from 20 starts in her career, earning $228,159. She paid $10.80 to win.

A LITTLE MORE: Dexter Dunn became the first driver to win both the Meadowlands Pace and Hambletonian for the first time in the same year since Jack Moiseyev turned the trick in 1991 with Precious Bunny (Pace) and Giant Victory (Hambo). A driver murderers' row of Tim Tetrick, Yannick Gingras, Dunn and James MacDonald tied atop the driver leaderboard with three wins apiece. Marcus Melander topped the trainers with four walks down victory lane. All-source wagering on the 16-race program totaled $6,159,511, a 2026 track and industry best. There is no live racing at The Big M on Friday (Aug. 14) due to a preseason football game. The next live card will take place on Saturday (Aug. 15). Post time is 40 minutes later than usual, at 7 p.m. (EDT).

--with files from Ray Cotolo and the Meadowlands--