The $25,000 Open Trot featured an ultra-competitive field of 11 in
the 9th race feature on Saturday night at The Meadowlands. The
slight 2-1 favorite, Tweet Me began from a trailing position in the second
tier. That mare was favored by a mere $82 over Uva Hanover (also 2-1), in
a win pool of over $55,000. Both favorites would lead at different points
of the mile, but the last horse to the lead would be Cash Me Out (5-1), who was
patiently handled by Jonathan Roberts and rallied from fourth-over position to
score in the featured trotting event.
Uva Hanover was the first horse to the lead, reaching the quarter
in 27.2, while Il Mago pressed while parked on the outside. Hyway Marcus
was anxious and moved three-wide early-on in the mile for Joe Bongiorno,
reaching the lead just before the half-mile in 56.2. The early leader,
Uva Hanover, allowed both Hyway Marcus and Il Mago to go by before moving back
to the outside and challenging for the lead on the far turn. Detroit
Rapper was slightly gapped second over, favored Tweet Me was in striking range
third over with Cash Me Out lurking in the outer flow. Uva Hanover and
Hyway Marcus reached three-quarters in a contested 1:25.1 before the field
fanned out across the track in the stretch. Tweet Me rallied down the
center of the track to grab the lead in mid-stretch, but was quickly challenged
by Cash Me Out and the favorite could not hold off the closing kick of Cash Me
Out, who scored in a lifetime best 1:53.3. Tweet Me was second with Uva
Hanover third.
The win was the 13th in the career of Cash Me Out whose
earnings reach $439,649 with the victory. He is owned by Traylor Racing L.L.C.
and conditioned by Kyle Spagnola. Jonathan Roberts was the winning
driver.
Campbell Wins Five
The leading driver in Meadowlands history put on a show on
Saturday night, winning five races. While some of his wins were formful,
he also scored a 63-1 upset in the second race with Celebrity Massive.
Campbell ends his 2015 season at The Meadowlands with 93 wins and earnings of
nearly $2.2 Million. With his victory in the Meadowlands finale,
Campbell’s earnings for 2015 surpassed $5 Million. It was the richest
season for Campbell since 2010 and his 148 victories were the most since 2009.
Longshot Parade Sparks Huge Dividends
Saturday night at The Meadowlands offered 15 races with 160 horses
entered to start producing an average field size of over 10 horses. What
could be better? The answer, massive payouts.
The Pick 5 returned $26,555 as there was only one correct winning
ticket with all five winners. In the same race, the jackpot super hi-five
was also hit and that returned $19,409 for a $.20 cent play.
Through the first seven races there was only one winning favorite
and the list of winners included 63-1 longshot Celebrity Massive, 25-1
Celebrity Pegasus and 23-1 Alibi Seelster.
The run of longshots also produced an Early Pick Four payout of
$17,426.
Meadowlands Posts Huge Numbers on Final Night
of Season
The final night of the 2015 racing season proved to be a
consistent handicapping puzzle, with many of the regular Meadowlands drivers
taking the night off and longshots finding the winner’s circle
repeatedly. But that didn’t stop the bettors from wagering
confidently. Total handle for the 15-race Saturday program reached
$3,619,093, an increase of $553,858 compared to the 13-race program on this
same night in 2014, an increase of 18-percent. The on-track handle
recorded a 22-percent increase as well. For the 2015 season, over $220
Million was wagered on The Meadowlands harness racing product. After a
season-long handle in 2012 of just over $170 Million, handle has now surpassed
$210 Million for three consecutive seasons.
The Meadowlands will not race on New Year’s Day. The first
racing program of the 2016 season will take place on Saturday, January 2nd.
The program will feature 15-races and a special post time of 6:35 P.M.
