East Rutherford, NJ — The $200,000 New Jersey Sires Stakes finals for 2-year-old trotters heads up the Friday night (July 16) program at The Meadowlands, serving as a fine introduction to Pace night on Saturday.

A trotting renaissance has taken place in the Garden State over the past decade, largely due to the presence of the great Muscle Hill who brought relevance to the state program when his syndicate had the fortitude and foresight to stand him in New Jersey upon his retirement in 2010. His stud career has been nothing short of remarkable and it is not an exaggeration to say that his presence sparked the resurrection of the New Jersey Standardbred breeding industry.

In subsequent years, the NJSS program has rebounded in both the level of the purses and quality of trotting stallions standing in the state. Exciting prospects like Walner, Tactical Landing (both stand alongside Muscle Hill at Southwind Farms), Six Pack and most recently International star Propulsion, who both call Deo Volente Farms home, have made New Jersey the trotting capital of the continent and beyond. The possibilities for their progeny transcend the regional program and offer the promise of Grand Circuit success.

The first crop by Walner have had an immediate and substantial impact on the NJSS freshmen in 2021 with his sons and daughters winning 11 of the 13 leg divisions leading into Friday night’s finals. Amazing under any circumstance, but particularly with Muscle Hill as the competition. The 20 starters in the finals are comprised of 11 by Muscle Hill and nine by Walner.

The NJSS colt final is race six and more than $1 million worth of freshman phenoms will compete for the top prize. Interestingly, the three Walner colts in the race all went through the preliminary legs unbeaten.

The slight morning line choice is King Of The North, who Mark MacDonald has driven flawlessly throughout the series for trainer Ray Schnittker. The strapping son of the champion stakes filly of a few seasons ago, Check Me Out, had to dig deep to hold a closing rival at bay last week in 1:54.2, and he did. King Of The North is owned by the trainer as Schnittker Ward in partnership with Arden Homestead Stable, Nolamaura Racing and Steve Arnold. He was a $190,000 Lexington purchase from breeders Schnittker and Steve Jones.

Temporal Hanover seems like a colt that’s happy to do his work and he scored the division’s fastest win of the season thus far last week when he rallied late through a :27.2 final quarter to get up in 1:54.1. Marcus Melander conditions the colt from Think Twice for owners AMG Stable, Kenneth Kjellgren, Rick Wahlstead and Heights Stable and he is getting a new driver in Brian Sears for the final. Temporal Hanover was a $55,000 yearling, bred by Hanover Shoe Farms.

The third unbeaten Walner colt has close ties to his famous father. Majestic J is owned by Ken Jacobs, the same gentleman who selected, purchased and owned Walner throughout his star-crossed racing career. Majestic J has demonstrated extreme speed from the start and most recently flashed a glimpse into his determination by digging deep to fight off a well-meant rival in last week’s race. David Miller is the driver and Tony Alagna the trainer of this $115,000 Lexington buy who was bred by Coyote Wynd Farms.

Looks Like Moni has the distinction of being the only leg winner who is not sired by Walner. The Muscle Hill colt from That’s All Moni starts from the rail for trainer Nancy Takter. He sat out leg two after his first leg win, which apparently impressed Hall of Fame driver Tim Tetrick enough to stick with him over Temporal Hanover. Looks Like Moni is a Brittany Farms, Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld homebred.

Race ten will be the stage for the fairer sex. The amount required to buy those offered at auction would have been around $1.5 million.

Venerable is the line maker’s choice here based on her unblemished record and the ease with which she has achieved it. David Miller has raced the Walner filly from Jolene Jolene, a $210,000 Lexington purchase by Dave McDuffee, Mel Hartman, Paul Bordogna and Steve Arnold, from off the lead in each of her starts and last week she blazed home in :26.3 to close out a 1:54.3 win. Nifty Norman trains Venerable who was bred by Maumee River Stable and Black Creek Farm.

Penelope J also represents the Ken Jacobs/Walner connection and may be the main threat to the top choice. She was a leg one winner for driver Scott Zeron, then a very good second last week, getting snapped right on the wire in a 1:54.4 mile after being active throughout. Linda Toscano, who trainer Walner for Jacobs, conditions this daughter of Decadence, a $160,000 Lexington yearling buy from breeders KR Breeding and Preferred Equine Marketing.

Both of the finals are excellent, competitive races that underscore the quality of the current New Jersey state-bred program.

The $100,000 NJSS pacing finals drew just four horses for each and will be raced off the pari-mutuel card at 6 p.m. and included in the television broadcast for your viewing pleasure.

Post time for Friday’s races is 6:20 p.m. You may access a free program for the entire card and all race cards at The Meadowlands from the track’s website.

Be reminded that the Meadowlands Pace card is scheduled for Saturday night with an early post time of 6 p.m.