The classy Sevruga left hard, made the front early and took on all
comers zipping through a 26.4 third quarter when pressed. The closers had
his scent as the wire approached but couldn't reach in time. At the wire it
was Sevruga hanging on by an scant inch over
a pair of dead heaters for the place, Guccio and
Wishing Stone, with Modern Family another inch back fourth in a stakes record
equaling 1:51-. The Cutler final is a leg of the TVG/Meadowlands Free For Series, awarding 35 points to the
winner.
"He's a horse that can go a long way, so I wanted to
give him a chance," was the way driver Andy Miller described the trip.
"I took off when Undercover Strike came to him (that 26.4 third panel
resulted) and I didn't know if he hung on or not."
Sevruga did hang on, to win for the
sixth time in ten seasonal outings and set a personal speed record in the
process. Julie Miller trains the winner for owner KDM
Stables Corp of New York.
While Jeff Gural voiced his
affection for his departed friend Artie Cutler in the post race Hollywood Heyden interview, he also touched on the impressive returning
crop of four year old horses. The bounty of quality race horses this
season is due in no small part to the condition on Meadowlands
and WEG stakes put in place to discourage
their early retirement.
A few races later, the relevance of that decision was on
display in the brand new $100,000 Meadowlands Maturity
for four year old pacers. The field of ten included nearly every top
three year old of last season with combined earnings of nearly $9 million.
Fast away from post ten was Warrawee
Needy, who took the field to the half in 54.4 just before releasing Hurrikane King Cole. Yannink Gingras had Sweet Lou in perfect second over position for the
drive as Warrawee Needy slipped out of the pocket and
they hit the wire together in 1:49-.
After a lengthy photo, Sweet Lou's number was posted for
his first win of the campaign. Ron Burke trains the winner for Burke, Inc, Mark
Weaver & Mike Bruscemi, Louis Karr
and P. Collura.
Three divisions of the New Jersey Sires Stakes for
sophomore pacers were on the Saturday card as well.
Rockin Amadeus opened the series
with 1:49.4 win in the first of two $25,000 divisions. Yannick Gingras drove the 2012
Breeders Crown winner for trainer Takter and owner
Susan Grange's Lothlorien stable.
Emeritus Maximus took the other
colt spilt in 1:50.1 over Wake Up Peter. Tim Tetrick drove for Tony Alagna (who
conditions the top pair) and owners Cheap Speed Stable, JL
Benson Stable and Alan Alber.
On the fair side, I Luv The Nitelife
held on for a gritty decision over O Narutac Rockette in 1:51- in the single division eleven filly $45,000
leg. Tetrick has the assignment on this top filly for
trainer Chris Ryder and owner Richard Young.
Once again, the total handle eclipsed the $3 million
mark. In fact, the $3,096,914 was an increase of $921,671 from the same
Saturday in 2012, with the same number of races. That correlates to an
increase of 42-percent. On-track handle was up both nights, with a final
tally of a 10-percent increase for the weekend.
