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Sunday, January 15, 2012

M1 - Presidential Series Off To Swift Start; Sears and Gingras Bag Five Apiece At Meadowlands

East Rutherford, NJ [January 14, 2012] – The $40,000 opening round of the Presidential Series was a thriller Saturday night at the Meadowlands as both Golden Receiver and River Shark paced sub-1:49 miles.  

Golden Receiver’s 1:48 gate-to-wire score was the fastest mile in Meadowlands history in the month of January, eclipsing Blatantly Good’s 1:48.1 set during the 2010 Presidential Series.  With Brian Sears at the lines, Golden Receiver made the top in :25.3, rolled through splits of :54 and 1:21.3 and kicked home in 26.2 for the career best clocking.  The pocket sitter Annieswesterncard was a length behind in second, while Summer Camp finished third after being towed second over.

Golden Receiver returned $3.80 as he posted his fourth straight victory in the evening’s fifth race.  The 7-year-old son of Village Jove now has 38 wins in 98 career starts and $688,733 in earnings.  Mark Harder trains the gelding for Stable 45, Richard Taylor, Stephen Springer and Nina Simmonds. 

River Shark [$7.40], also in razor sharp form, romped to a 1:48.4 score in the second Presidential division.  Tim Tetrick steered the 6-year-old gelding to a 3 1/4-length tally over Vintage Master.  Rockin The House was a distanced third.  Mark Ford trains and co-owns the son of Four Starzzz Shark with VIP Internet Stable, El Lobo LLC and Robert Di Nozzi.

The White Knight was red hot during the second half of the Saturday card, adding the last four races of the night to his Presidential victory with Golden Receiver.  Sears’ streak began with the Brian Magie-trained Voice Of Truth [$12.20] in the ninth race, one of two $18,000 Complex Series, and continued with Warning Zone [$12.20], Bet On Roulette [$10.20] and Pence Hanover [$44].

Yannick Gingras also bagged five wins on the Saturday card, including a hat trick in partnership with trainer Ron Burke.  Gingras steered Burke trainee Itrustyou [$3.00] to a 1:50 score over his stablemate Risk Management in the fourth race division of the Complex.  The driver-trainer pair also teamed for victories with Bay Of Sharks [$5.40] in the second race and Code Word [$5.60] in the eighth.  Gingras also visited the winner’s circle with Best Magic [$11] in the first and Splendid Kisser [$3.80] in race seven to complete the quintet.
 
Racing resumes Thursday night at the Meadowlands with a $50,000 Pick Four pool guarantee and Happy Hour specials from 6:30 – 7:30 on the Grandstand Level.  First race post time is 7 p.m.