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Sunday, February 28, 2016

Ninth straight $3M night at the Big M; Fan of Terror upsets at 52-1

by James Witherite, Meadowlands Media Relations

East Rutherford, N.J. -- Healthy dividends--including a late Pick 4 which paid nearly $4,000 on a 50¢ ticket and a 52-1 upset from Fan of Terror in the featured ninth race--contributed to a ninth consecutive card with over $3 million in handle at The Meadowlands on Saturday (February 27) evening.

A total of $3,342,144 was wagered on the 14-race program, extending the streak of racing programs with over $3 million in handle to nine.  Over seven cards in the month of February, total turnover on Meadowlands races exceeded $22.4 million.

In the featured $20,000 top-level conditioned pace, Louis Frascella's Fan of Terror ($106.00) stunned at 52-1 odds, overcoming traffic trouble in mid-stretch to narrowly prevail in 1:51 over the favored pair of Jet Airway and Ashley's Husband.  Andy Miller prompted the pace with the 4-year-old Western Terror gelding before yielding to dueling leaders Itrustyou (Yannick Gingras) and Aslan (Andy McCarthy) through a :27.3 initial quarter.  As Jet Airway (Marcus Miller) commenced outer flow through a :55.1 half, Fan of Terror found himself hard-pressed for racing room, only able to shake free in the final 150 yards when he split mid-stretch leader Jet Airway and a flattening Calvin B (Corey Callahan).  Fan of Terror lunged to the line to just collar Jet Airway, and 8-5 favorite Ashley's Husband (Tim Tetrick) charged down the grandstand side off a fourth-over trip to claim third.  Dovuto Hanover (Scott Zeron), who made his seasonal debut in the race, rallied up the pegs late for fourth, just missing Fan of Terror by a length.

Andrew Harris trains Fan of Terror, now a 14-time winner.

The featured win was one of two for Miller, who took the finale as well with Rockin Jimmy ($6.80) in 1:53.2.  Top driving honors on the night went to Marcus Miller, who captured three of the evening's 14 races.  Andy McCarthy, Anthony Napolitano, and Tim Tetrick each also notched driving doubles.

Earlier in the program, the KJ Stables and Purple Haze Stables' Missile J ($2.60) earned his second consecutive win, holding pocket rival Connecting Flight at bay for a 1:52.2 win in a $10,000 event for non-winners of two races or $20,000.  Tetrick drove the quickly developing 3-year-old American Ideal gelding for trainer Linda Toscano.

As the seventh race 20¢ Jackpot High 5 was hit for the second time in three cards--this one paying $8,016.64, only one pool carries over to next Friday's card.  The final race Jackpot High 5 will see $116,448 added to the pool on Friday evening should one lone player prove successful.

Live racing returns on Friday, March 4.  First post for the next two weekends of racing at The Meadowlands will remain 6:35 p.m. Eastern.