The Meadows: Allegiant romps in Currier & Ives

Allegiant, coming off a fifth-place finish last time out in the New Jersey Sire Stakes final, clocked a stakes record 1:52 3/5 mile in winning the $52,355 Currier & Ives for 3-year-old filly trotters on Friday evening at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows.

Driven by Hunter Myers, Allegiant set up shop right away on the lead after gunning out from post two, and she would chop out panels of 27 4/5, 57 1/5 and 1:24 4/5. There was no catching Allegiant from there, as she had a 27 4/5 final quarter in reserve to open up and defeat pocket-sitting Tactical Lori (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) by three lengths. Pizzelle (Tyler Smith), last year's Goldsmith Maid champion, couldn't make any headway from first-over as the 4-5 favorite and had to settle for third.

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"I gave her a few taps down the stretch just to keep her attention, but the whole mile was 100 percent her," Myers said. "We finished with her ear plugs still in. She has tons of upward potential."

Sired by Tactical Landing, Allegiant was bred by Atlantic Trot Inc. and Steve Stewart and is trained by Vernon Beachy for owner Ryan Smith. Allegiant has a summary of 6-2-1 from 14 starts, has put away $343,397 and paid $4.00 to win as the even-money second choice.

A Hambletonian Oaks eligible, Allegiant is heavily-staked this season, so her eye-popping performance was a relief to Beachy after a slow start to her sophomore campaign which saw her lose three straight New Jersey Sire Stakes.

"She had bad luck in Jersey, and the competition was tough," Beachy says of his $50,000 yearling acquisition. "Last trip she got locked in. Probably her next start is the Moni Maker at Scioto."

--quotes from the MSOA--