East Rutherford, NJ — Up Your Deo stunned a field scratched to 10 to win the second leg of the New Jersey Sires Stakes (NJSS) for sophomore trotting colts at 43-1 on Saturday (May 20) at the Meadowlands. The Walner colt recorded his first victory, defeating favorite Oh Well in a duel to the finish of a 1:52 mile.

The field left the gate swiftly with trotters pushing three-wide for the lead. The trio of Dire Straits, Up Your Deo from the second tier, and Kimmeridgian settled in a line past a :27.1 quarter, but Oh Well demanded the top spot and soared through the backstretch to take control.

Oh Well went smoothly through a :56 half and looked well enough to motor home while posting three-quarters in 1:25.2 until Up Your Deo took after him to pose a serious challenge down the stretch. Up Your Deo lunged forward continuously in the stretch to overpower Oh Well by a head in the shadow of the finish line. Tactical Approach, the crowd’s second choice in the wagering, finished third and Celebrity Bambino, off a first-over push around the far turn, took fourth.

Up Your Deo and trainer-driver Åke Svanstedt upset in the $30,000 second preliminary of the New Jersey Sire Stakes. Lisa Photo.

Trainer-driver Åke Svanstedt, Suleyman Yuksel Stables, Deo Volente Farms and Van Camp Trotting Corp own Up Your Deo, whose winning share of the purse upped his bankroll to $82,687. The colt’s first win was worth $89.60 to his backers.

Co-owner Mike Gulotta of Deo Volente Farms said he was not shocked that the colt’s first victory came in this race:

“He won his qualifier,” Gulotta said, “and [went] his last quarter in :27.1. Sarah [Svanstedt] said he’s really, really good, and Åke said he’s easy to drive [and] it’s easy to look like a great driver when you have an easy horse to drive. We bred him. We bought the mare for like $35,000 and bred it to Walner and got lucky.”

Up Your Deo was sold at Lexington for $100,000 and Gulotta was offered to buy in as an owner for 20 percent.

“And I said, ‘Sure, why not?’ It’s not too often you can stay in on a horse you bred.”

The connections had high hopes for Up The Deo. At 2, he went in 1:52.4 and was competitive in the Valley Victory and Kindergarten, but was winless at the end of his freshman campaign.

The first of two $30,000 divisions of the NJSS for sophomore filly trotters went to Secret Volo. Brian Sears drove her to a 1:53.2 lifetime mark by a head over favorite Mambacita. Tactical Mounds finished third.

Marcus Melander trains the Walner product for owners Heights Stable, Rick T. Wahlstedt and Kenneth Kjellgren. She paid $4.00 to win.

Special Way and driver-trainer Åke Svanstedt won the second filly division by 2-1/2 lengths in 1:53.4 over Walner Payton and Blonde Bombshell. The Walner filly’s ninth win in a row was worth $2.20 to win. Brittany Farms LLC, Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld are the owners.