by David Mattia, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

New Brunswick, NJ — Last Saturday (October 13) at Freehold Raceway, trainer Linda Toscano won both eliminations of the Lou Babic Memorial, with her colts Artic Stretch and Meant To Be Me. A victory by either horse in this Saturday’s $145,000 final will serve to further illuminate the banner year the Toscano Stable has had in 2007.

Currently, Linda Toscano’s training statistics show her to be at the top of her game. She’s won 92 of her 450 starts, and with earnings of $2,378,517 and a UTR of .322 she is having the best year of her career — and there’s still more horsepower left in her 38-horse stable to push the numbers higher in the last 2-1/2 months of 2007.

“Kenneth J still has big races left,” said Toscano. “He’s made over $750,000 this year and he still has a lot of races before the year’s out.”

In fact, Kenneth J paid the $60,000 supplemental fee earlier this week to enter the $805,480 Messenger Stakes and will compete in the eliminations this Saturday at Yonkers.

“I have a great staff — a great team. They all do a really great job and I’m lucky to have all of this come together as it has.”

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Linda Toscano has two horses primed for Saturday’s Lou Babic Final at Freehold.

As for Artic Stretch and Meant To Be Me, to the casual observer, they might seem like late bloomers who happened upon the stakes scene form-wise just in time to take a double stab at the Babic, but according to Toscano, this is not the case.

“They were always very good horses with plenty of ability but they just needed a break,” recounts Toscano. “There was always something minor holding them back that had nothing to do with their talent. They were always very good colts and there was nothing really wrong with them. It was little things like bad post positions, driver changes, bad racing luck or even minor illnesses — it was just one little thing after another.

“In the case of Meant To Be Me, he was bothered by a slight throat infection for a few months. He’s a horse with a lot of ability and sometimes he tries to go faster than he should and he throws in a step or two. He made a break a few starts back but I’m pretty sure that it was the throat problem that bothered him more than the break. Little things like that — the fact that I knew he was talented but unlucky, that made me decide that he was worth going on with.

“A trainer has to make the decision if a horse has the ability to go on, and then too, you need to know if they have the ability to get some late stakes money. Some horses just don’t make it and you have to know that you’re better off waiting until they’re 3-year-olds, but as far as Artic Stretch and Meant To Be Me are concerned, I always knew they were good. Like I said, they just needed a break and now they’ve got it. You try to find all the little things that are bothering a horse and then you get it together. That’s what’s happening now.”

Meant To Be Me is a son of McArdle from the Abercrombie mare Sweet Meant To Be. She is also the dam of the Camluck colt Grand Bend Turbo p,1:50f ($511,915). Toscano bought Meant To Be Me as a yearling at Harrisburg for $35,000.

“I picked him out myself because I liked him,” said Toscano. “I like McArdle as a stallion. I’m a fan. They’re good horses, cheerful, nice to be around and I’m very happy with the ones I have.

“Meant To Be Me’s owner lives in Florida and he likes to have something to do and watch his horse train, so the colt was broke and trained in Florida by Wally Hennessey and his brother Dan. They sent him to me after he’d been trained for a while and when he came to my barn I knew he was a good one.”

Meant To Be Me was bred by Westwind Farm Canada Ltd., and was foaled in Strathroy, Ontario. Louis Marciante of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Amante Standardbreds of Delray Beach, Fla., own him, and he will be driven in the Babic final by Ron Pierce.

Currently he has lifetime earnings of $24,416 and a mark of 1:55.1, which was taken in his Babic elimination.

Artic Stretch, Toscano’s other Babic entry, is a son of Artiscape out of the Troublemaker mare Joys R Us. Currently he has earnings of $32,292 and a lifetime mark of 1:55.1, which he also set when he won his Babic elimination.

“I thought perhaps that Artic Stretch was an underachiever and victim of bad racing luck,” said Toscano. “I knew he was much better than he showed but I wanted to convince myself. I made the decision to see what would happen if I put him in a maiden race at Freehold. He was very good in there (he won by 7-3/4 lengths in 1:57 on October 3) and I think that got him brave. He came back the following week for the Babic elimination and he was strong.”

Artic Stretch is owned by Winbak Farm and is racing under lease to Joe and Joann Thomson’s Hutt Racing Stable.

“The Thomsons trained him down and then sent him to me before he was ready to race,” recalled Toscano. “I made the decision that he was good enough to go on with and he’s proved me right so far.”

In Saturday’s Babic Final, Artic Stretch has drawn post five and will be driven by Andy Miller. Meant To Be Me will start alongside in the six hole for driver Ron Pierce. The Lou Babic is restricted to New Jersey-sired horses and is a stake sponsored by the New Jersey Sires Stakes.

With 2007 drawing to a close, Linda Toscano has not yet had a chance to sit back and relax.

“Kenneth J still has a lot more left this year and I have the Babic Final on Saturday,” said Toscano. “It all keeps me very busy — but it’s a good kind of busy.”