by James Witherite, Meadowlands media relations
East Rutherford, N.J. – Limelight
Beach, the 2014 Little Brown Jug winner, will make his seasonal debut in
Saturday’s (February 20) featured event at The Meadowlands after last week's
races--and his expected return to the track--were postponed due to extreme
cold. The 5-year-old gelded son of Somebeachsomewhere and Benear tackles
seven others in the $20,000 upper-level pace, and has been installed as the 3-1
morning line second choice in the evening’s eighth of 14 races.
As a 4-year-old, Limelight Beach only managed a pair of
wins in 21 starts. Nonetheless, he maintained a string of minor placings
in stakes events through North America, including a second-place finish in the
Prix d’́Été at Hippodrome 3R and a third-place finish in the Canadian Pacing
Derby at Mohawk. Yannick Gingras is reunited with the Ron Burke trainee,
and the pair start from post 8. Among the other top contenders are 5-2
morning line favorite Rockeyed Optimist (post 7, Tim Tetrick), who was just
outkicked in his seasonal debut last two weeks ago, and Ashley’s Husband (post
2, Brett Miller), whose ferocious :25.4 last quarter propelled him to victory
in the top pacing event that same night.
A pair of sub-featured $13,000 conditioned paces make
up half of the late Pick 4 sequence, with third-level fields contesting the
ninth and eleventh races. In the ninth event, Mark Capone trainee
Kingofthejungle (post 9, Andy Miller) seeks to make amends after facing
top-level competition, but will square off against Meadows invader Some Kinda
Beach (post 2, Jim Marohn, Jr.) and Yonkers shipper UF Rockin Dragon (post 6,
Tetrick), both of which step down from tougher competition as well. The
eleventh race is equally competitive, given the consistent success of Cobalt
Man (post 1, Tetrick) and Dune Dude (post 5, Gingras) at this class along with
Jacksrluckytoo (post 6, Joe Bongiorno), who has proven a gritty contender on a
consistent basis of late.
The pair of sub-featured events are the foundation of
the late Pick 4, which carries a $50,000 guaranteed pool and begins in race
nine. Earlier in the card, another Pick 4 and a Pick 5 boast $55,000 in
additional guaranteed pools, while over $123,000 in carryover money will await
punters in the night’s two 20¢ Jackpot High 5 wagers should neither jackpot be
claimed on Friday.
Post time for Saturday’s program is 6:35 p.m. Eastern.
