Friday night's card at The
Meadowlands was strong, with several co-features sprinkled throughout the
evening.
The second race was a
solid B-1/A-2 handicap trot with a pretty even group facing the starter, or so
it seemed. Il Mago, despite no evidence of real early speed in his form, left
the gate fast and effectively drug Ron Pierce through grueling splits of 26.4,
55- and 1:24, leading by as many as seven lengths at the stretch call and
coasted in by nearly four in 1:54.
Mark Harder trains and
co-owns the four year old Kadabra with Chris Alexander Stable of Canada.
Race three was the
trotting feature, a $30,000 A-1/FFA event with plenty of early action. The lead
changed hands no fewer than four times as they passed the half, with even money
favorite Sevruga the last to the lead in 56-. Ice Machine was left out and
pressing around the final bend, but Sevruga was solid and rolled to a safe
1:53.1 win. Tall Cotton drafted along and held second while Ice Machine was a
brave third.
Julie Miller trains the
winner for KDM Stables Corp.
The seventh race A-2/FFA
saw last year's Milton winner Rocklamation starting the year well and
pay tribute to her late sire, Rocknroll Hanover, with a crisp off cover win in
1:50.4 for the top combo of Burke & Gingras. Yannick had the career winner
of $1.2million in a perfect striking spot, following live cover up to a leader
that paid a price to make the front and Rocklamation rolled on by under minimal
encouragement. Unred Hanover used a clever Ron Pierce steer to save place and
Southwind Jazmin held well after being used to get to the front in a 54.3 half.
The winner is owned by Our
Horse Cents Stables, Stable 45 and Jerry
Silva.
The driving star of the
night was Corey Callahan who scored a natural hat trick towards the end of the
card.
It was another successful
night at the betting windows at the Meadowlands, the total handle of $2,939,450
marked an increase of $625,139 for the same 11 races on this Friday one year
ago, an increase of 27 percent. Live handle also showed an increase
of 5%.
Racing returns on Saturday
with a 13 race card featuring The Aquarius and Horse and Groom Finals along
with the best bet in harness racing, the $75,000 Guaranteed Late Pick 4.
