Last season, Lyonssomewhere won a leg of the pacing Triple
Crown, when he scored in The Cane Pace at Tioga Downs. Amazingly, that
was the last time the son of Somebeachsomewhere found the winner’s
circle. That changed on Saturday night at The Meadowlands.
Making his fourth start of his four year old season,
Lyonssomewhere was exiting back to back fourth
place finishes in The Graduate
series against the best colts and geldings from his crop. He was dropping
in class to a middle-level condition pacing event and the bettors responded,
making him the 1/2 prohibitive betting choice. Off the gate, Andy Miller
sent the favorite immediately to the lead, and he would go on to set a
demanding pace, reeling off fractions of 26.3, 54.4 and 1:21.4 before turning
for home with an ever-expanding lead. JK Patriot was chasing from the
pocket, but simply could not keep up in the stretch. Windsong Gorgeous
who sat along the pylons the entire mile, rebounded and rallied willingly in
the stretch, but Lyonssomewhere was long gone, winning in 1:48.2.
Windsong Gorgeous was second and JK Patriot checked in third.
For Lyonssomewhere, it was the first victory of his four
year old season, his 8th from 20 career starts, with earnings now of
over $440,000. He is owned by Geoffrey Lyons Mound and trained by Julie
Miller. The 1:48.2 clocking was a new lifetime mark.
The Caramore series continued Saturday night at The
Meadowlands with 26 horses split into three divisions. The first division
ended in a mild upset as the overwhelming favorite, Dragon Lore was left with
too much to do and could not catch Kings Barns and Andy Miller, who led from
just past the quarter pole all the way to the wire, to win in 1:50.4, a
lifetime best performance. The second split saw Account Rollover and Vincent
Ginsburg make it back to back wins in the series, as he parlayed a perfect
pocket trip into another victory, stopping the teletimer in 1:50, establishing
a new lifetime mark for the second week in a row. The third and final
division saw the second choice in the wagering, Stonehouse Adam, rallying from
the pocket up the pylons to grab the victory from heavily favored Long Live
Rock to win in 1:51.4 for Joe
Bongiorno.
In other action, Ontario Success and Mister Virgin put on a
good show in an upper-level condition pacing event, battling from just past the
half-mile pole all the way down to the wire, with Ontario Success and Joe
Bongiorno just getting up in the shadow of the wire over Mister Virgin to score
in 1:49.1, which was, once again, a new lifetime mark.
Both $.20 Cent Super Hi-5 Jackpots went unclaimed, with the
fifth race carryover expanding to $159,224 and the last race carryover growing
to $136,155.
The total handle was up nearly 25-percent over this same
day in 2014, and on track handle was up five-percent as well.
Racing returns on Friday evening with the third round of
The Graduate series for the four year old pacers and trotters. Post time
is 7:15 P.M.
