by Carol Hodes, for the SBOA of New Jersey

Manalapan, NJ — New Jersey Sires Stake champion Snow White, the fairest 2-year-old trotting filly in the land, puts her five-race unbeaten streak on the line in the $458,500 Merrie Annabelle Final on Thursday night (August 2) at the Meadowlands.

After winning the Acorn Stakes, the daughter of Self Possessed swept the three-race New Jersey Sires Stakes, including the $175,000 final on June 19 in 1:55.4, plus her Merrie Annabelle elimination, for five wins in five starts and earnings of $154,725.

Snow White has been installed as the 3-5 morning line favorite in the fifth race. The Kevin Lare-trainee, driven by John Campbell, is owned by the Delaware-based North State Street Stable and Harness The Power.

In the $467,000 Peter Haughton Memorial for 2-year-old trotting colts, the seventh race on Thursday, the Muscles Yankee colt Blue York Yankee is ranked the 8-5 early favorite.

Five of the 10 fillies in the Merrie Annabelle Final are by either Self Possessed (Snow White and Marinated Herring) or Muscles Yankee (Midnight Lace, Winbak Brat and Muscovite).

Winbak Brat, the New Jersey Sires Stakes runner-up, is owned by New Jerseyans Martin Steinberg and Alvin Katz and trained by Linda Toscano.

A trio of New Jersey breeders are represented by Muscovite (Perretti Farms), Marinated Herring (Joie De Vie Farm), and Timeless Winner (David Meirs).

Another filly finalist, Satin Pillows, is a half-sister to this year’s Hambletonian second-choice, Pampered Princess, and is bred by William Weaver’s Valley High Stable of Freehold.

In the Peter Haughton, four of the finalists are alums of this year’s New Jersey Sires Stake competition — Blue York Yankee and Ocean Front, both by Muscles Yankee, and Celebrity Rocky and Nautical Notion, a pair of Self Possessed colts.

Blue York Yankee, driven by Brian Sears and trained by Trond Smedshammer, has two wins, a second and a third in four starts and earnings of $57,187. Bred by Perretti Farms, he was a $180,000 purchase for Finland’s Einari Kalle Vidgren. The colt’s dam, Vernon Blue Chip, won the Merrie Annabelle in 1996, and his full-brother, Blue Mac Lad, was third in last year’s Hambletonian. Two other siblings were also six-figure earners — Self Obsessed ($249,865) and Dodger Blues ($111,374).

Tapas Bar (bred by Fair Winds Farm) and Credit Press (owned by John Lichtenberger of North Bergen) also offer a Garden State connection to the Peter Haughton Final.