East
Rutherford, NJ - A beautiful Saturday evening provided a perfect setting for
the 2017 edition of JerseyFest at The Meadowlands, with a packed house taking
in the finest food trucks in the area and a fantastic twelve-race card.
The featured $20,000 Preferred Pace lived up to top billing, with the classy
eleven-year old veteran, Clear Vision, escaping with a nose victory after an
epic four-way slugfest through the stretch, equaling his career best in 1:48.2.
Clear Vision (Scott Zeron) left the gate aggressively from post four, before
yielding to even-money favorite Mel Mara (Corey Callahan) just past the opening
quarter in 26.3. Dealt a Winner (Andy Miller) settled in third in the early
stages, while former New Zealand superstar, Christen Me (Victor Kirby), got
away fourth from the outside post in the field of seven.
They would continue to race like that through a half-mile in 54.1, and through
the three-quarter marker in 1:22, before all three challengers fanned out off
the cones turning for home to take their shot at the front-stepping Mel Mara.
Ultimately, Clear Vision dug down to hit the line first, with only a neck
separating the top four finishers. Mel Mara settled for second after putting up
all the fractions, with Christen Me finishing just better than Dealt A Winner
for third.
It was a rebound win for Clear Vision after an impossible trip in last week's
$109,500 Molson Pace at Western Fair resulted in a disappointing seventh place
finish. It was the 38th win of his career, pushing his career bounty to just
shy of $3 million.
Total handle on the 12-race card was $2,995,672.
Live racing continues at The Meadowlands on Friday and Saturday nights with a
first post of 7:15 p.m.
