from Meadowlands Media Relations

Although she has more than $700,000 on her dance card, Valley Electric will make her Meadowlands debut in the $100,000 Hanover Shoe Farms – britstud.com Matriarch on Sunday afternoon.

The six-year-old mare will take on a star-studded field of millionaires and world champions that includes Loyal Opposition, Burning Point, Cabrini Hanover and Glowing Report. She has drawn post two in the afternoon’s featured sixth race and will be driven by Cat Manzi.

A model of consistency Valley Electric has finished on the board in 83 of her 112 career starts, placing her in-the-money nearly 75 percent of the time. The daughter of Electric Yankee-Fox Valley Godiva is a homebred owned by William R. Huggins of Wolcottsville, Indiana. After racing her primarily in his homestate, Huggins sent Valley Electric to trainer Michael Grant in Canada in October 2004. Her successful campaign at Woodbine over the past two seasons prompted Grant to suggest sending her to the Meadowlands.

“Being an Indiana-bred, you have to really earn your way,” Huggins remarked. “We’re still young [in our breeding program]. I sent her off to Toronto and she liked the cold weather and the track up there. This is the only one I have with Michael and he’s done an exceptional job with her. She’s been very competitive.

“I just hope she isn’t over her head [in the Matriarch],” he added. “She’s very versatile. She can go from the top or sit in a hole. She’s eligible to the Breeders Crown at the Meadowlands and the Milton and Roses Are Red in Canada. We’re taking our chances.”

One of Valley Electric’s career highlights was a winning streak from March to June 2003.

“She won 11 in a row and on her 12th start, she popped a splint [causing her to finish sixth in a race on July 1 at Balmoral],” Huggins said.

Huggins is the co-founder of Pretzels, Inc., one of the top private label suppliers of pretzel and corn-based snack foods in the United States. Huggins and partner Bill Mann founded the business in Bluffton, Indiana in 1978. Lifelong friends, Huggins and Mann gained their experience in the snack food industry by working for Mann’s father, Larry Mann, the founder of the Duchess Pretzel Corporation in Bluffton. Duchess Pretzels later merged with Bachman Foods of Reading, Pennsylvania. After Bachman closed its Indiana plant in 1978, Huggins and Mann seized the opportunity to fill the void left by Bachman and formed their own company, Pretzels, Inc. They began with one oven and five employees. Today, the operation has grown to two locations and 250 employees operating their state-of-the-art bakeries.

The field for the $100,000 Matriarch [from the rail out]: Miss Galvinator A, Yannick Gingras, 15-1; Valley Electric, Cat Manzi, 8-1; Ann Other Porsche, Mike Lachance, 20-1; Burning Point, Ron Pierce, 8-1; Brianna Joy, Stephen Smith, 15-1; Glowing Report, David Miller, 6-1; Born Storyteller, George Brennan, 15-1; Loyal Opposition, Andy Miller, 5-2; Easton Alliance N, John Campbell, 3-1 and Cabrini Hanover, Brian Sears, 5-1.

AROUND THE MEADOWLANDS FOR MAY 13, 2006

In addition to the inaugural Matriarch, Sunday afternoon’s 11-race program also includes two $18,000 opening round divisions of the Hiram Woodruff Trot, carded as the seventh and ninth races. The second leg of the Woodruff is on May 21 with the final on Memorial Day, May 29.

Memorial Day will be a Party in the Park at the Meadowlands. The Monday, May 29 matinee program features special events in Paddock Park with live music provided by Jimmy and the Parrots, performing Jimmy Buffet favorites, from 12:30 to 3:30. Gates will open at 11 a.m. for first race post time of 1:10 p.m. The Paddock Park events include Rock Wall, Speed Pitch and carnival games which will be offered from 12 noon to 4 p.m.

There are only two more Sunday afternoon programs this meet – May 14 and 21.