East Rutherford, NJ — The Meadowlands Saturday morning fan favorite Breakfast With The Babies, sponsored by Fashion Farms, began at 9 a.m. under comfortable conditions for this time of year with temperatures in the 70s and no rain in sight. The wind today was considerable and against the horses in the stretch.

Trainer Tony Alagna won the day with five successes over the 17 2-year-old races carded, while Yannick Gingras drove four winners.

The opener featured filly trotters and Secret Volo (Brian Sears) got up out of the pocket to edge by Moni Lisa (Gingras), who had taken over just past the 1:00.3 half, in 1:57.3, home in :28.4 into the wind. Marcus Melander trains the winner, a $40,000 Lexington Selected Sale graduate, for Fred Persson, Heights Stable, Rick Wahlstedt and Kenneth Kjellgren. Jorgen Jahre Jr. and Kentuckiana Farms bred the daughter of Walner-Secret Serenity.

Race two confirmed that the wind was taking a toll, particularly on the leaders, as Royal Filly (Dexter Dunn) also emerged from a pocket trip in the stretch to get the win in 2:00/:29.2, holding off Bella Macchiato’s (Gingras) late rally. The Chapter Seven-Swinging Royalty filly is trained by Alagna for Crawford Farms Racing. Jonas Schlabach was the breeder.

Brunella (Gingras) rallied late by Danielle Hill (Ake Svanstedt), who had set all the fractions, for the 1:58.4/:29 win, her second in as many starts. The winner is trained by Nancy Takter for Christina Takter and Goran Falk, who bred and own the daughter of Father Patrick-Hollywood Hill.

Mambacita (David Miller) made a mockery of any perceived bias and went right down the road in 1:58.2 off a half in 1:01.1, trotting strong into the stretch headwind in :28.2 to win by open lengths. Piano Bar (Svanstedt) followed loosely the whole way and did hold second. Mambacita is from the first crop of Tactical Landing out of Bill’s Lady. The filly was an $80,000 Lexington purchase by trainer Alagna as Alagna Racing, breeder Crawford Farms and Pryde Stables Inc.

Race five went to Exile (Dunn) who cut the mile and held sway by a diminishing margin over Paradise Lindy (Gingras) in 1:59.4/:29.3. This royally bred daughter of Walner-Swan Hot Mama demanded $800,000 at auction in Lexington last fall from Brixton Medical, Caviart Farms, trainer Nancy Takter and breeder Diamond Creek.

Pacing colts came up after a break and the $300,000 Captaintreacherous-My Lady Day colt Save America (Gingras) set all the fractions and moved away from his rivals late in 1:56.2/:28.1 with something left. Admiral Hanover (Tetrick) made a late rally to get up for second. The winner is another Takter trainee, this time for the partnership of 3 Brothers Stables and Caviart Farms. Breeder Fred Hertrich III sold the precocious colt at the Standardbred Horse Sale last fall.

Alagna sent out a Captaintreacherous-Mystery Game colt named El Rey (Dunn) who rallied wide off cover to track down Undeniablebluechip (Sears) in the final strides of the 1:56.2/:27.2 mile under minimal encouragement from the driver. Brittany Farms, Steve Head, Riverview Racing and Larry Denley share ownership of El Rey, bred by Riverview Breeding.

It’s My Show (Scott Zeron) knifed through late with plenty of pace to get up over Can’t Stop Lou (Gingras) with Blue Lou (Andy McCarthy) completing the Sweet Lou trifecta in 1:55.2/:27.3. It’s My Show is a Richard and Joanne Young homebred from their great world champion Put On A Show and is trained by Linda Toscano.

Colt trotters began with race nine and Dire Straits, driven by his trainer Mattias Melander, impressed once again with a last to first stretch brush through the final quarter to track down Sevecheetah (Trond Smedshammer), the mile in 1:59/:28.4. This Muscle Hill-Southwind Cocoa colt was bred by Richard Gutnick, who now owns him in partnership with Tom Pontone and Gary Cocco.

Winner’s Bet was ultra-impressive this morning as driver Gingras insisted the son of Walner-Side Bet Hanover come back to him and sit in fourth as the early lead changed hands several times, with Five Stars (Sears) the last to cross over just before the 59.4 half. Things picked up considerably with a :28 third panel and as the field turned home, Gingras had Winner’s Bet clear in the four path and he rolled on by under his own power in 1:58. Five Stars stayed on for second. The winner was a $200,000 Lexington purchase last fall by Lindy Farms of Connecticut and Robert Rudolph from breeder S R F Stable.

S R F Stable came right back with a winner in race 11 when Oh Well (Tetrick) won his second in as many tries from well back in 2:00.4/:28.4 with International Man (Gingras) closing inside for second. Concord Stud Farm is the breeder of Oh Well and they collected $530,000 at the Standardbred Horse Sale for the son of Muscle Hill-Fine Tuned Lady last fall. He is trained by Marcus Melander.

S R F struck again in race 12 with Gates Hanover, a $135,000 Lexington Walner-Good Common Cents colt, coming from just off the leaders in a 2:01.1/:29.2 mile. The Svanstedt trained and driven colt was bred by Hanover Shoe Farms.

Marcus Melander sent out the sharp looking Muscle Hill-Stage Fright colt Upstaged (Tetrick) who impressed with a front-end effort two weeks back and demonstrated versatility today, waiting patiently for the “go” signal from the driver, then tracking down mile cutter White Lightning (David Miller) for a 2:00.2/:28 win. Jim Avritt Sr. bred the colt, who extracted a $40,000 Standardbred Horse Sale winning bid from Stall TZ.

Finally, the pacing fillies closed out the card beginning with race 14 where Diamondsnpearls (Gingras) won for the second time here and was just as impressive as the first. Gingras settled the Captaintreacherous-Cashaway filly just in behind the lead through workmanlike fractions and when he asked, she took off, closing in :28 to hold off Lisa Lane (Patrick Ryder) for the 1:55.4 win. Diamondsnpearls is a Brittany Farms and Marvin Katz homebred.

Showmemagic (Tetrick) was a sharp winner for the Jeff Cullipher barn, converting a perfect pocket trip into a 2:00/:28.4 win over pacesetter Lazin On The Beach (Andy Miller). The top two are Lazarus N fillies; the first crop of that international star are showing up and they’ll get their chance to shine next Friday with the first leg of the New Jersey Sires Stakes for pacers. Cullipher owns the $20,000 Lexington, Deo Volente Farms bred lass, in partnership with Pollack Racing.

The first foal of the top race mare Penpal, Treacherous Penny (Todd McCarthy) was a winner at first asking for trainer Alagna. McCarthy had the Captaintreacherous filly settled in third as Reggae Hanover (Dunn) set an honest pace, then had clear sailing up the pegs as the leader bore out and was a 1:56.1/:28.1 winner. Bred by Pat Lachance and M & M Harness Racing, Treacherous Penny was a $150,000 Lexington buy for Rob Leblanc, Big Als Stables, Caviart Farms and John Fodera.

Another daughter of a great race mare brought the curtain down on today’s BWTB when Bellisima Hanover (Todd McCarthy) went all the way in 1:58.2/:28.3 over Seashell (Andy McCarthy) for the Alagna stable. Another by Captaintreacherous, the winner is out of Bedroomconfessions, who won $1 million in her racing career while being campaigned by Alagna and Myron and Stephanie Bell, and went through the ring for $400,000 in Lexington. She was Tony’s fifth winner of the day and he owns her in partnership with the Bells’ Riverview Racing, Caviart Farms, Daniel Plouffe and Steve Head.

Racing tonight at The Meadowlands starts at 6:20 p.m. and it’s Hamburger Day with several local specialists competing for cash and trophies. As always, free programs are available on the web.