by Leon Zimmerman, for the New Jersey Sire Stakes

Freehold, NJ — Little Michael B made use of the passing lane to overtake the pacesetter All Stienam and win the $104,500 Louis Babic Memorial Open for 2-year-old New Jersey-sired pacers by a neck in 1:56.3 on Saturday (September 10) at Freehold Raceway.

In the companion $60,500 Babic Filly Final, Clear View Hanover won in 1:57.1 with Hall of Famer Cat Manzi driving.

The races are sponsored by the New Jersey Sire Stakes program in the State Department of Agriculture and named for a founder of the state-bred program.

With Daniel Dube driving, Little Michael B (Cam’s Card Shark-Maid West) sat behind All Stienam (Tell All-Odds On Stienam) as he led from the start and set fractions of :28, :57.2 and 1:26.3. Throughout the race, All Stienam put away two challenges, first by Bullet Bob (Tell All-Erasable Art) at the quarter-mile mark and then by Verdad (Western Ideal-Jennie Fanetta) at the three-quarter pole.

It was the second victory in only three lifetime starts for the Josh Green-trained colt. With the victory, Little Michael B has now earned $58,700 in his young racing career for the VIP Internet Stable and the Baron Racing Stable. VIP Internet is also co-owner of the runner-up All Stienam, trained by John Butenschoen for VIP, Gary Bury and William Wiswell. Verdad finished third.

Clear View Hanover (Western Ideal-Clouding Over) closed strongly in the stretch to win by 1-1/2 lengths over My Ideal Hanover (Western Ideal-Mydancecardisfull), who was also closing. The pacesetting My Deal (Western Ideal-All Aces) faded to third in the stretch after setting fractions of :28.1, :58.3 and 1:27.2.

It was the second win in six starts for Clear View Hanover, trained by Abe Stoltzfus for owner Ernest Hartman. The filly has now earned $38,110 in her brief racing career.