Trainer Kyle Spagnola sent three trotters to the gate on Friday
night at The Meadowlands and all three found the winner’s circle.
Two of the wins came with Andrew McCarthy in the
bike. The first, Ulster romped by a dozen lengths in the third race
condition trot, winning in a lifetime best 1:53.1, while Keystone Thomas was a
wire to wire winner in 1:54.3 in the fifth race condition trot.
Spagnola wasn’t done, as he sent
out the prohibitive 3/5 choice in the $17,000 featured trot in the eighth race
and the favorite did not disappoint. After brushing to the lead, past
fractions of 27.2 and 56.1, Waiting On A Woman and driver Corey Callahan took
on the challenge of Lady Windsor around the far turn. But when the
favorite reached three quarters in 1:25, it was clear that he had plenty left
in the tank and the seven year old gelding powered away with a 27.3 final
quarter to win going away by just over three lengths in 1:52.3. The final
time was just one-fifth of a second off his lifetime mark.
Trainer Kyle Spagnola now sports a
record of five wins from his first seven starts at the 2015-2016 Meadowlands
meet.
The win was the 50th in
the career of Waiting On Woman, who now has career earnings of over $373,000.
Waiting On A Woman is owned by
Michael Polansky.
The win was one of three races won
by Corey Callahan through the first eight races.
Jerseylicious Chases Down Radar Contact
The seventh race condition mare pacing event was a filled
choc-full of mares with stakes experience. Radar Contact was a strong 3/5
favorite, but on paper there was competition in the form of Jerseylicious and
it played out that way on the racetrack as well.
Radar Contact was quarter-moved to the lead by John Campbell past
the first point of call in 27-seconds and she would hold that lead into the
stretch, through fractions of 55.1 and 1:24. Meanwhile, Jerseylicious was
sitting mid-pack and committed first over down the backstretch as Radar Contact
blazed the way. As the field approached the stretch, Jerseylicious had
room to tuck behind the favorite and did so until the middle of the stretch,
when Callahan showed his mare racetrack again and she responded to that move by
accelerating late, chasing down the favorite to win in 1:51.2.
For Jerseylicious, the win marked the 15th victory in
her 62 race career and sent her earnings past $636,000. She is trained by
Wayne Givens for owners Legacy Racing of Delaware Incorporated, Pamela Curran
and Niel Gargiulo.
Takter With Another Promising Young Trotter
The stakes season may have come to an end, but Jimmy Takter is
still winning promising races with young trotters. In the first race on
Friday night at The Meadowlands, the Jimmy Takter trained, Massive Clout
(Muscle Massive), parlayed a pocket trip into a pylon skimming win by the narrowest
margins over Moulin Rouge who defeated this condition one week ago.
Massive Clout and Corey Callahan sat comfortable in the pocket
behind pacesetter Barnaby Rudge through fractions of 29.3, 59.1 and
1:29.1. Meanwhile, the even-money favorite, Moulin Rouge was tracking in
a live outer flow and loomed boldly three-wide off the far turn and appeared
poised to blow by, but Massive Clout found room at the pylons and was full of
trot as well. The pair of trotters raced down to the wire together, with
Massive Clout escaping with a nose-victory in a mild upset at odds of
5-1. Moulin Rouge was second with Barnaby Rudge third. In the field
of 10 trotters, there were three-two year olds and they ironically comprised
the trifecta.
Massive Clout is a homebred for Brixton Medical who co-owns the
colt with Christina Takter.
The winning time of 1:57.2 was a lifetime best performance and was
the second consecutive win for the son of Hambletonian winner Muscle Massive
who now has two wins from three starts.
GSY AMATEUR TROT
Robert Krivelin’s name has been one of the most popular among
amateur drivers for years and that name reigned supreme again with an 8-1 upset
in the GSY Amateur Trot with Chocolate Xplosion. Krivelin, who also
trains the four year old gelded son of Chocolatier, turned a pocket trip into a
1:56.3 victory, a lifetime best performance for Chocolate Xplosion.
Crazed N Lindy rallied from well-back for Peter Kleinhans to be second with
Jack’s Reef and Hannah Miller third.
The win was the 184th amateur driving victory in the
career of Robert Krivelin, with earnings over $1.2 Million.
Total handle for the 13-race Friday card was $2,642,922, a
seven-percent (7%) increase over this same Friday last year. On-track handle
also showed slight gains. The guaranteed pools performed well on Friday,
with the pick five totaling $44,233, the early pick four handling $47,983 and
the late pick four reaching $78,955.
Both jackpot super high five carryovers continued to grow as
the fifth race now stands at $17,625.09 and the last race now at $18,381.34.
Racing resumes on Saturday with a 13-race card set to begin
at 7:00 P.M.
