East Rutherford, NJ – Friday’s
Meadowlands card continues the parade of stars returning to the racing
wars. Co-featured are the $25,000 Open Handicap Trot (race six) and $25,000
Open Handicap Mare Pace (race 11).
The trotting race boasts
a stellar field as Bee A Magician, Resolve and Creatine make their
seasonal debut with Shake It Cerry, Gural Hanover, Waiting On A Woman and
Opulent Yankee providing the competition.
Six of the seven are
targeting the inaugural Mack
Lobell Elitlopp Playoff scheduled for May 8 here at The Meadowlands. The
winner of that Grand Circuit event will be invited to the Elitlopp raced in
Solvalla, Sweden on May 29.
“Queen Bee” took a
measure of both Creatine and Resolve in a 1:53.4 qualifier Saturday past
and has looked sensational in both of her morning trials. As she embarks on her
fifth season of racing trainer Nifty Norman continues to marvel at the depth of
her talents and along with owners Dave McDuffee, Mel Hartman and Herb
Liverman look forward to what she may accomplish this season. Brian Sears
is in for the drive.
Creatine held well
after cutting the mile in that one and along with Resolve, who was a reserved
third from well back, will likely move forward of that workout.
Shake It Cerry got a
quality first start in last week dashing home in a 26.1 final quarter in a
closing second to JL Cruze to be beaten just a length in 1:52.2.
Gural Hanover and
Opulent Yankee are coupled for wagering purposes and are both solid performers
working into the five-year-old seasons. Waiting On A Woman (ineligible for the
Elitlopp Playoff) trotted home in a sneaky 26.2 following Shake It Cerry’s
cover last week.
The Mare Open Pace marks
the return to The Meadowlands of last season’s three-year-old filly pacer
of the year, Divine Caroline. She and entry mate Bettor Be Steppin combined to
earn over $1 million for common owners Val’D Or Farm, Ted Gewertz and Rojan
Stables (Michael Ouriel is a partner on only Divine Caroline) and trainer Joe
Holloway.
The competition is
stiff, led by Sandbetweenurtoes, Katie Said and Table Talk who all had a
national presence in the older pacing mare division last year and rounds out
with the gritty Request For Parole and improving Lovineveryminute.
The supporting card is
strong and the wagering opportunities many on Friday evening. The lure of the
Jackpot Super Hi-5 carryover is at $184,704 to open the weekend and the
standard menu of horizontal wager guarantees continue. Past performance for the Late Pick 4
remains yours at the click of a mouse for each night’s card, courtesy of
Trackmaster.
We’ll roll back the concession prices on Friday with
delicious $1 hot dogs and $2 beers (consume responsibly) and continue to sign
folks up for a dream trip to the May 7 Kentucky Derby.
Post time is 7:15 p.m.
