By Rab Hagin

Leading Northeastern first-crop sire UNION JACKSON picked up his second winner when his 2-year-old son, HOBOKEN JACK, scored by a length in his second start on Sunday, October 10, as the even-money favorite among ten in a $50,000 contest at six furlongs on a “good” Belmont dirt track. In September, Union Jackson’s late-April-foaled juvenile daughter, OUR TINY DANCER, had romped by eight lengths as the youngest among seven fillies going a two-turn dirt mile at Delaware Park. Hoboken Jack, racing for his owner-breeder, Ron Lombardi’s Mr. Amore Stable, had rallied to finish fourth among nine – closing by a length on the winner in the final furlong – while debuting in a five-furlong Monmouth maiden special last summer.

The runner-up behind Hoboken Jack was another Sequel Stallions-conceived juvenile, a son of deceased North American 2021 top-ten second-crop sire LAOBAN. Hoboken Jack, who was brushed by foes on either side at the break but appeared to relish the extra furlong, is the first named offspring produced from a hard-knocking mare who also raced for Mr. Amore Stable, winning at Parx and Monmouth with tags of $25,000 and $5,000, respectively. Auguring auspiciously for the colt’s future is his recent new membership in the stable of trainer Danny Gargan, who also conditions Freud’s potential superstar juvenile son, Dakota Gold.