Each filly finished second racing against older mares in last Saturday’s Championships at The Meadowlands.

by Debbie Little

Allegiant and My Girl EJ may not have won a FanDuel Championship last week at The Meadowlands, but both 3-year-olds showed up and showed out, finishing second in their respective fields of older female competition.

Their reasons for taking on more seasoned competition was somewhat different.

With a tight race for Dan Patch divisional honors among the sophomore filly trotters, the connections of Allegiant took a chance in the FanDuel Open Mares Trot, knowing the leader in that division, Jiggy Jog S, would not be competing.

“[Allegiant] got the invite and because she was in the running for divisional honors, and because I knew R Melina was possibly going to go also, and ‘Jiggy Jog’ is retired, that also played a big part in it, [Allegiant] really had nothing to lose,” said Allegiant’s trainer, Linda Toscano.

R Melina is Allegiant’s main competition for divisional honors.

“I know that [the voting is] probably going to be close as far as R Melina and Allegiant and I thought [competing in the FanDuel] might tip the scale,” Toscano said. “And [Allegiant’s] so sharp right now… and then add to that she does sell at that Mount Hope sale in two weeks in Ohio.

“So, this could only look even better, for anyone that would be considering buying her, on her resume to possibly bring her back as a 4-year-old because, you know, if she could go with them as a 3-year-old, I would have to think that she can go with them as a 4-year-old.”

The fillies went head-to-head on seven occasions this year: Allegiant won three and R Melina took two. In the two faceoffs where neither was the victor, Allegiant finished in front of R Melina in both races.

Of the four top races in their division, Allegiant won the Breeders Crown, while R Melina added the Kentucky Filly Futurity to her resume. The Hambletonian Oaks and Elegantimage were won by Warrawee Michelle and French Champagne, respectively.

R Melina has a record of 8-5-1 from 18 starts with $817,469 in earnings, while Allegiant’s record is 6-4-2 in 17 starts with $748,027 in the bank.

The FanDuel was the last opportunity this season for R Melina, owned by M And L of Delaware LLC and Alabama Harness Associates LLC, and Allegiant, owned by Ryan Smith, to face off before year-end voting takes place. Unfortunately, R Melina went off-stride at the start of the race won by Nelsonbriteagle NO over Allegiant.

“I trained for them and they’re good people,” said Toscano of the owners of R Melina. “That’s not the way I wanted it to happen. I would have rather seen a really good race, you know.”

Toscano said you have to weigh out all your options whenever you consider putting a filly up against mares.

“Ryan left it to me this time,” Toscano said. “I threw it up to him and he said, ‘Don’t hurt her, first and foremost, and don’t do it unless you think she can be competitive.’ We kept her in training, and after training her last Saturday, I had a conversation with him and also with Vernon [Beachy], who trained her, her whole life. And I said, ‘I just don’t think in this particular case, you have anything to lose, you have more to gain than you do to lose here.’ And it worked out well. Everything worked out well.

“I hope it will tip the scale… and she might be 3-year-old trotting filly. She deserves it. She’s done everything a horse can do. I know they took turns a little bit during the course of the year, but she’s finished up so strong and she’s such a nice horse that I really believe she deserves it.”

My Girl EJ also left an impression with voters finishing a good second to the presumptive Horse of the Year Twin B Joe Fresh in the FanDuel Open Mares Pace.

The reason for owners Bill Pollock, Bruce Areman and Andrew Harris choosing to race “EJ” in the FanDuel was simple, it was their only option if they wanted to race her this year.

The partnership of Pollock, Areman and Harris just acquired the 3-year-old daughter of Sweet Lou—Lucy’s Pearl for $758,000 in a Preferred Equine Online Mixed Sale on Nov. 18 who was sold as part of a partnership dissolution. She was previously owned by trainer Ron Burke with breeders Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi and Elizabeth Novak.

“That was the only available race for her to race in,” said Harris, who also trains the filly. “And, you know, when you pay that kind of money for one, you kind of like to get one start into her and see what she is and for us to get a little bit of excitement with her, and it was really the only option we had.

“And I think that if Burke had had her, they would have done it, too. I think that when you’ve got one that’s racing that exceptionally, and been the boss of her own division, you take a chance. It’s not like you’re racing for no money… There are not enough opportunities in horse racing to not go for those types of races.”

The connections of My Girl EJ, a two-time Breeders Crown champ, who set an all-age female world record of 1:49.1 on a half-mile track winning an elimination of the Jugette earlier this year, knew it wasn’t going to be easy facing Twin B Joe Fresh and mostly older competition in the FanDuel, but felt their filly represented herself well.

“I think we all knew that we were just racing for second,” Harris said. “I mean, nobody can beat Twin B Joe Fresh right now and it would be unfair to even have those expectations for EJ. So, I told them before we even entered, we’d be racing for second, but we’re going to have five other ones up there, we might as well put in a little bit more power and have extra power there to watch race.”

Just as Harris had told his partners, they were racing for second and that’s where she finished.

“I was very happy with her,” Harris said. “To me, she was the clear second-best one in the race and I think that that was the hope going into it and I think she proved it coming out of it.”

The opportunity for 3-year-olds to be invited to take on older competition was made possible when Meadowlands president/chief executive officer Jeff Gural created these Championships, then known as the TVG.

“I saw that the Breeders’ Cup allowed their biggest race to include 3-year-olds, so I thought we would try it in the TVG and it has made it more interesting,” Gural said. “We raced Six Pack in it at 3 and he finished second to Tactical Landing, who was also 3. Last year, we raced Bond and she finished second to Jiggy Jog S and we had three enter this year and two finished second.”

Toscano said of Gural’s idea to invite 3-year-olds to take on their elders, “Jeff is all about trying to figure out a way to get the public back interested in the horse races again and, you know, that’s commendable. That’s why he has the Gural Rule. He really believes that if you bring them back at 4 that the public might get interested in it again. Unfortunately, it’s too easy to turn on the TV these days, then it is to show up at the races.”