Slam Bammy closed the door on John's Pic with a sixteenth of a mile to go and drew away to victory in track record time for six furlongs in the $75,624 Rutgers University Stakes on Friday night at the Meadowlands.Slam Bammy, ridden by Rajiv Maragh and trained by Joe Orseno, was timed in 1:07 3/5, taking one-fifth of a second off the track record established by Hay Cody on Sept. 6, 1996.Owned by Peter Congelosi, the 5-year-old gelded son of Grand Slam–Miss Heidi (by Nureyev) made it back-to-back stakes victories, having captured the Eillo Stakes at the Meadowlands on Oct. 17. He had previously won the Decathlon at Monmouth Park this year.The Meadowlands-loving sprinter won two of his three starts over the East Rutherford oval in 2005. His only loss was a second to Joey P in last year's edition of the Rutgers. Slam Bammy paid $5.60, $5.20 and $2.20 as the second choice in the field of seven. His margin of victory was 1 1/4 lengths over John's Pic, who returned $17 and $3. There was 1 1/2 lengths to 4-5 favorite Who's The Cowboy, $2.10 to show.Lifetime, Slam Bammy has seven wins, two seconds and two thirds from 19 starts and earnings of nearly $250,000.
(Chart, Equibase)