Saturday
night at The Meadowlands was pleasant weather-wise with temperatures in the
50’s and little to no wind while the action on the racetrack was hot right from
the start.
The sixth
race was the $63,000 What Baron final, remembering one of the great pacers of
the early years at The Meadowlands and it turned out to be a slugfest.
Captive
Audience and Wake Up Peter were both in line for a sweep and Dave Miller made a
bold early statement, flaunting the impressive early speed of Captive Audience
through the 26.3 opening quarter while Scott Zeron and Wake Up Peter could not
find position from his outside post and were forced to press on for the lead.
The pair met at the half in a demanding 53.3 and went toe to toe from that
point forward. At the wire, it was Captive Audience prevailing in a close photo
while Wake Up Peter had to settle for the place after an absolutely paint
peeling effort.
The time
of 1:48.3 was a new career best for the winner, trained by Corey Johnson for
Debbie Element and Mac Nichol of Ontario.
The
$55,800 Artistic Vision final (race 11) pitted favored American In Paris,
questing for a series sweep, against JK Letitgo who had her own reign of terror
interrupted by a pair of losses to her rival in the series legs. Jim Morrill,
Jr was intent on the lead with American In Paris and set honest fractions as JK
Letitgo made a bid around the final bend, taking a bravening tuck passing
the 1:21.4 three panels. In the stretch, JK Letitigo emerged from the pocket
and wore down the favorite to win in 1:50-.
Driver
Jonathan Roberts had this in the post-race interview, “I wanted to be close up,
the fractions were fast enough that I thought she had enough to win. She
actually was good enough last week but had no room in the stretch”.
The
winner is trained by Joshua Parker, he is a partner in the filly with Nanticoke
Racing, Barry Spedden and Kevin Evans.
On the
pari-mutuel front, Saturday’s first race offered a Pick 5 carryover of $30,782
which attracted $140,596 in new money and those first few winners were not easy
to have. Pierce came into the opener, a $30,000 instant series for Non Winners
of 2 races with a perfect record, he had never won in 18 previous races.
Tonight would be a different story as driver Scott Zeron, who had spoken to
this particular horse’s penchant for keeping himself classified in a Friday
paddock interview, pressed to the lead passing the three eighths and held on in
a photo for the 1:51.2 maiden breaker at odds of 8-1.
The
second race was the fast class A-2/B-1 pacers going for $22,500 and it was
bombs away here when Rockin Wizard scored from off the pace for Mike Wilder in
a new personal best of 1:49- returning $75.40 for a $2 win bet.
The
suspense continued to build when Jamaican Cowboy and Vinny Ginsburg won the
fourth race from the clouds at 19-1. The will pays leading into the fifth and
final leg of the bet revealed one uncovered combination and every held
combination returning either $120,000 or $60,000 on the wager.
In the
end it was 5-1 shot Moonliteonthebeach scoring in a new record of 1:51 for
Jonathan Roberts resulting in a published payoff of $60,140 for each fifty cent
wager with the correct combination.
The fifth
and final preliminary leg of the Legends vs. Phenoms Driver Challenge was
contested Saturday night as well. For the Phenoms, it was the same story
as Scott Zeron swept each of the five preliminary legs, doing so this time with
79 points. On the Legends side, it came down to the final race as Dave
Miller and Corey Callahan were tied after 12 races. Miller won the finale
with OK Fame and took the $2,000 prize with 94 points.
The 10
drivers qualifying for the Championship Round on Saturday April 26th,
which will offer a $15,000 first place grand prize are Dave Miller, Corey
Callahan, John Campbell, Jim Morrill Jr., Scott Zeron, Joe Bongiorno, Vincent
Ginsburg, Jim Marohn Jr., Steve Smith and Mike Wilder. The championship
round will be contested over a limited number of races and all ten drivers will
have the same number of drives, giving them all an equal opportunity to take
home the grand prize.
Racing
resumes on Friday night, with first post time at 7:15 P.M.
