Harness racing in East Rutherford, N.J. AP Photo/Bill Kostroun
Hot. Nope, we’re not talking about the weather.
How about Brooklyn’s Linda Toscano?
The first woman trainer, or driver, as a member of harness racing’s Hall of Fame showed the world her election was no fluke.
It’s My Show capped a big two days for driver Scott Zeron and trainer Toscano, who teamed up to win the $850,000 Little Jug Final for 3-year-old pacers in 1:49 at the Delaware (Ohio) County Fairgrounds last week.
Toscano proved lightning does strike twice.
She captured the Jugette for three-year-old female pacers — with Zeron — a day earlier.
Zeron became the first driver since David Miller in 2011 to win the Jug and Jugette in the same year. Toscano joined Ron Burke and Berett Pelling as the only trainers to accomplish the feat in the past 25 years.
It was Toscano’s first victory in the Little Brown Jug.
But firsts are nothing new for the woman who grew up on Linden Boulevard and East 35th Street.
She was the first female trainer to win the Hambletonian, capturing the race with Market Share in 2012. Since then, Paula Wellwood won with Marion Marauder in 2016 and Nancy Taker won with Tactical Approach this year.
Takter finished second in 2021 and 2020. Julie Miller had second-place finishes in 2017 and 2018 and was third in 2016.
Oh, did we mention Toscano has won eight Breeders Crowns and was Trainer of the Year in 2012. In 2019, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
And if harness racing is the first love for this 66-year-old Brooklynite, then Angelo’s was a close second.
“For a buck and a quarter, we’d get a meatball hero and a Coke,” she told the Eagle, like it was yesterday.
That was Brooklyn, for Linda Toscano.
“I’m Brooklyn all the way,” she said. “We went to Shea Stadium by subway, and Angelo’s was on Church Avenue.”
She went P.S. 235 to St. Catherine’s of Genoa, and then to harness racing.
“When we moved to Long Island,” she said, “I was…
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