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Draft:Tony Alagna

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            Tony Alagna is the son of trotting trainer Donna Lee Ozment. He was riding horses at the age of three and studying pedigrees and bloodlines before he was a teenager. After he graduated from high school, Alagna helped his mother in her stable. After he outgrew his little Welsh Pony, his mother got him a quarter horse, and then Saddlebreds and Morgans. He had a world championship in 2016 with one named Miss Velvet Brown.

           His mother was previously one of the top trainers of the tough Chicago circuit. He now has a 148 acre farm with 145 stalls, an equine swimming pool and a seven-eighths mile oval in Howell, New Jersey. He then worked for trainer Brian Pinske before finishing his college degree in 1997. After graduating college, he worked as a private trainer for Pat and Ken Walk’s Fox Valley Standardbreds in Illinois for three years and then spent six years as the top assistant to trainer Erv Miller. With Erv Miller, he helped train horses such as Lis Mara, Shark Gesture, Classic Photo and Muscle Mass.

           He started his own public stable in 2009 at the age of 37, and has established himself as one of harness racing’s top trainers. In 2013 he had 151 wins and 5.44 million in purses. In 2019, he was ranked third in North America. His stable has amassed $75.77 million in purses as of August, 2024.

           Alagna trained the famous pacer Captaintreacherous, who was named Pacer of the Year in 2012 and 2013. Captaintreacherous became the first pacer to receive the award two years in a row since Jenna’s Beach Boy in 1995-1996, and joined Niatross as the only horses to receive the award at ages 2 and 3 since the award was first given in 1970. Pacer Bret Hanover won the American Harness Horse of the Year award three years in a row, at ages 2, 3, and 4 with the Horse of the Year Award from 1964-1966.

           In 2020, Alagna won in the Hambletonian Stakes with Ramona Hill, ridden by Andrew McCarthy. The winning time was 1:50.1.

           Other top horses for Alagna have been My MVP, who won the 2012 Kentucky Futurity, as well as stakes-winners Authorize, Fresh idea, Handover Belle, Ideal Magic, Major Bombay, Mel Mara, Nikki Beach, and Rockaround Sue. Tony Alagna also had nine wins with his 2 year olds on July 7, 2023 at the Meadowlands.

            “I definitely get my work ethic from my mom.” Alagna said. “She instilled in me that if you don’t work hard, you’re not going to be successful. Mom always told me that if you don’t take care of the horse, the horse won’t take care of you.” Ken Weingartner

Year Race Horse Trainer
2012 Metro Pace Captaintreacherous Tim Tetrick
2013 North America Cup Captaintreacherous Tim Tetrick
2013 Meadowlands Pace Captaintreacherous Tim Tetrick
2013 Cane Pace Captaintreacherous Tim Tetrick
2013 Breeders Crown 3 YO Colt & Gelding Pace Captaintreacherous Tim Tetrick
2014 Metro Pace Artspeak Scott Zeron
2015 Messenger Stakes Revenge Shark Yannick Gingras
2016 Adios Pace Racing Hill Brett Miller
2016 Messenger Stakes Racing Hill Brett Miller
2016 Breeders Crown 3 YO Colt & Gelding Pace Racing Hill Brett Miller
2017 Breeders Crown 2 YO Colt & Gelding Pace Stay Hungry Doug McNair
2018 Cane Pace Stay Hungry Doug McNair
2018 Messenger Stakes Stay Hungry Doug McNair
2019 Breeders Crown 2 YO Filly Trot Ramona Hill Andrew McCarthy
2019 Breeders Crown 2 YO Filly Pace Reflect With Me Andrew McCarthy
2019 Breeders Crown Open Pace American History Joe Bongiorno
2020 Hambletonian Stakes Ramona Hill Andrew McCarthy
2020 Little Brown Jug Captain Barbossa Joe Bongiorno
2021 Cane Pace Rockyroad Hanover Dexter Dunn
2023 Kentucky Sire States Better is Nice Andrew McCarthy
2023 New Jersey Sire States Better is Nice Andrew McCarthy

References

1.     “ TONY BIO” (http://www.alagnaracing.com/tony-bio.html) ALAGNA RACING. http://www. Alagnaracing.com/tony-bio.html. August 9, 2020. (Mom behind the Alagna Empire, 6 August 2022; Kimberly Reinker, The Hambletonian Society)

2.     “Dan Patch Awards” (https://web.archive.org/web/20200629225826/http://www.worldclasstrotting.com/Race StatistikAll/OvStatistik/AretsHastIUsa.htm). www.worldclasstrotting.com. Archived from the original (http:// www.worldclasstrotting.com/Race StatistikAll/OvStatistik/AretsHastIUsa.htm). June 29, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200629225826/http://www.worldclasstrotting.com/Race StatistikAll/OvStatistik/AretsHastIUsa.htm. August 9, 2020.

3.     “Ramona Hill Did It” (https://travnet.se/ramona-hill-gjorde-det/). Travnet. August 8, 2020. https://travnet.se/ramona-hill-gjorde-det/. August 9, 2020.

4.     “Ramona Hill equals stakes record in Hambletonian” (http://ustrottingnews.com/ramona-hill-equals-stakes-stakes-record-in-hambletonian/). http://ustrottingnews.com/ramona-hill-equals-stakes-stakes-record-in-hambletonian/. August 9, 2020.

5.     (Nick Salvi, Harness Racing News, 7/7/23)

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