East Rutherford, NJ — The Meadowlands’ Breakfast with the Babies, 2024 edition, graciously sponsored by Jules Siegel’s Fashion Farms, got underway on a perfect Saturday morning (June 8). The sky was clear, temperatures in the seventies and track fast.

Headlining today’s bill was the usual array of expensive young talent along with several representatives of the hotly anticipated first crop of Tall Dark Stranger, who did not disappoint.

Quite possibly the most impressive performance of opening day was by the Captaintreacherous-Higher And Higher filly Ascendance, who was basically restrained by driver Scott Zeron throughout a remarkable 1:54.4 mile to be a geared down 3-1/2 length winner over a willing Ronstadt (Todd McCarthy).

Zeron settled Ascendance into third early in the :30.2 quarter from her outside post, but she was having none of that. Off to the front through fractions of :58.1 and 1:26.3, about as slow as Zeron could get her to go, and she finished in hand.

An imposing bay, Ascendance is from the top racemare and producer Higher And Higher. Trained by Linda Toscano, she was bred by Steve Stewart, Conquest Acres and David Schmucker Jr. and purchased by Jablonsky Held Stable, Joe Sbrocco, Bill Elliott and In The Gym Partners for $260,000 at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale.

The curtain raiser was a four trotting colt field with a combined worth of $580,000, should you choose to use their selling price at last fall’s yearling auctions as your barometer.

Ake Svanstedt opened a winner with the Chapter Seven-Exotic Form colt Happy Jack B, converting a pocket ride into a comfortable 2:00.2 victory, using a :28.2 final quarter to hold Civilian Drone (Yannick Gingras) at bay by a length.

The winner was a $110,000 Lexington purchase by B Nasstrom Holding Inc., Wolfgang A Stable Inc., and Joe Sbrocco & JAF Racing and was bred by Winbak Farm.

Goodgirl Bi It (Mattias Melander) inherited the lead by three-quarters when the leader self-destructed, then took the second race over a fast-closing Time For Landing (Andy McCarthy) in 1:59.4.

Champagne Problems (Gingras) showed promise despite wandering, then going off-stride while cutting the mile and Beautiful Sight (Svanstedt) also impressed after a break just after the start.

Goodgirl Bi It is from the second crop of Greenshoe out of Princess Grif, bred in Italy by Az Agricola Biasuzzi and owned by Courant, Inc. Marcus Melander trains.

The Walner-Danish Girl filly Kendra (Gingras) was powerful this morning, leading all the way in a 1:57 romp, home in :29 with Yannick only calming her through the stretch. Amazon Fashion (Tim Tetrick) was a willing second, inheriting that position when Morning Angel went off stride late while in pursuit of the winner.

Kendra, bred by Karen Carroll, was a $140,000 Harrisburg purchase by Black Horse Racing and Eric Good who entrusted her care to Nancy Takter.

Dexter Dunn arrived in time for race four and immediately set to winning, converting a perfect pocket trip into a 1:58.2 career start for the Chapter Seven-Lifetime Pursuit colt Super Chapter. They followed stablemate Meshuggah (Mattias Melander) from the word go until mid-stretch where Dunn tipped Super Chapter from behind the leader, and he went by very willingly through the :28.4 final panel. Meshuggah held sway for second.

Marcus Melander trains the winner for Jeff Snyder and Arthur Pronti who paid the princely sum of $300,000 in Harrisburg to secure the colt from breeder Hanover Shoe Farms.

Mr Mouton (Svanstedt) was a very impressive winner this morning, setting all the fractions then powering away from his rivals with a snappy :27.4 end to the 1:57.4 mile under no encouragement from the driver. Blue Cartier (Gingras) followed throughout but proved to be no match on this day.

Another by top sire Chapter Seven out of Burberry, Mr Mouton was bred by Kevin Greenfield and sold for $140,000 in Lexington to Knutsson Trotting, Little E, Stolz Geiger, and Jorgen Sparredal.

Zeron got on the board with the Walner-Born Lindy filly R Lady W who closed resolutely through the :28.2 end of the 1:57.3 mile to get the win over Royal Mission (Dunn). Conditioned by Toscano, R Lady W was a $290,000 Lexington buy from breeder Lindy Farms. She races with M And L Of Delaware listed as lessee.

Two exceptionally well-bred Chapter Seven colts went to the wire together in the seventh race, with the bargain priced ($25,000 Harrisburg) Banksy Monkey (Tetrick) clearing through inside a drifting leader, getting the jump on, then holding off the strong close of his $475,000 (Lexington) opponent Maryland (Dunn) for the 1:59.1 (his last quarter :28.1) win.

Lucas Wallin trains and owns the winner in partnership with breeder Order By Stable, who chose to stay in at the shockingly low price on the full brother to the great Gimpanzee out of Steamy Windows. Today, it certainly looks as though Lucas made a great buy.

Pink Chou Chou (Dunn) is owned by Crawford Farms Racing and trained by Nancy Takter, and it looks like the girls may have another reason to get new outfits as the Chapter Seven-Secret Magic half-sister to the great Manchego followed the leader Credit Worthy (A. McCarthy) until mid-stretch then brushed by that rival through the :28.3 final quarter of the 1:59.4 mile. Credit Worthy held the place.

Pink Chou Chou sold for $225,000 (Harrisburg) and was bred by Hanover Shoe Farms.

Pacers came around in race nine and we got our first look at the Tall Dark Strangers.

Realmenwearblu got them off to a flying start with a front running 1:56.3 win, off a half in 1:00, last quarter in :28 as he pleased over another Tall Dark Stranger, Strangerinthenight (A. McCarthy) who was gaining mildly on the wrapped up winner.

Realmenwearblu physically resembles and hails from several of the same connections as his famous sire. Takter trained both and owns a share of the winner with Patrick Hoopes, R A W Equine and Rojan Stables and Gingras was along for the ride. Crawford Farms, also a partner on the sire, bred the colt, out of Poetry And Song, who sold for a sensible $42,000 in Lexington last fall.

Wavemaker (Zeron), another by Tall Dark Stranger and out of Making Waves, was a 1:56.3 winner, asked late to gamely hold off closers on both sides as Oogleville (Jason Bartlett) rallied wide for second while Blue Onyx (Gingras) came through inside for third. This colt, from a Captaintreacherous dam with a classic Brittany maternal pedigree, seemed to resemble that line physically.

The winner was a $300,000 Lexington purchase with breeder Brittany Farms retaining a piece to join Myron and Stephanie Bell’s Riverview Racing, Steve Head and Pryde Stables. Tony Alagna trains.

Another big-ticket Captaintreacherous filly, Duration (Dunn) rallied from off the pace to sweep by the field for a 1:54.4 (:27.1) win for trainer Alagna. Dunn followed the cover of stablemate Simply Perfect (A. McCarthy) until late in the stretch before sliding over and asking Duration for pace. She responded to get by Simply Perfect who stayed on for second.

Out of Time On My Hands, the winner was a $200,000 Lexington buy for Robert Leblanc, Joe Sbrocco, Pryde Stables and JAF Racing. Michael Robinson, Robert Mondillo, Steve Cheatham and Steve Stewart bred her.

Captaintreacherous capped off a big day with a 1:56 winner in Captain Optimistic (Gingras) who stormed out of the pocket with a :26.2 close to get the win over the game pacesetter Attaboychet (Anibal Borjas). The winner is another Takter trainee who was a $160,000 Harrisburg investment in the future by 3 Brothers Stables, Marvin Katz and Caviart Farms. Fair Winds Farm is the breeder of the daughter of Cinamony.

A few qualifiers with notable horses making their early appearances followed the 2-year-olds.

Dan Patch Award winning freshman trotting filly of 2023, Soiree Hanover (Tetrick) was a winner at first asking over the 2023 Breeders Crown winner Warrawee Michelle (Svanstedt) in 1:54.4. Both performed as expected, restrained through early stages, then finishing well in tandem through a :27.4 final quarter.