East Rutherford, NJ- A field of
seven Preferred trotters racing for a purse of $20,000head up a ten race
program at The Meadowlands on Friday evening to officially kick off Belmont
Stakes weekend.
The draw for post positions in the
Preferred was done in handicap fashion with the stronger horses relegated to
posts five, six and seven. Gural Hanover landed in the open outside post
seven and has been installed as the 9-5 morning line favorite.
Relatively lightly raced but always
effective, the six-year-old gelded son of Crazed makes but his fiftieth career
start and will eclipse $850,000 in earnings for owners Burke Racing, Weaver
Bruscemi, Little E, LLC and Panhellenic Stable Corp with a win on Friday.
Currently in top form, Gural Hanover took a new mark of 1:51 in this class just
a week ago. Jordan Stratton will drive for trainer Ron Burke.
A pair of battle
tested warriors in Not Afraid (PP #5 Jim Marohn, Jr) and B Yoyo (PP #6 Joe
Bongiorno) are the greatest threat to the favorite. Both have been competitive
at a high level for quite some time, particularly Not Afraid who won
the Dexter Cup way back in 2012 and is inching in on $1 million in career
earnings for the Takters.
Poker and free baseball tickets are on tap for Friday night
and the dinner theme in Pink is German food.
It's a weekend full of wonder with
both the 2nd annual Burger Battle and BeerFest both scheduled for Saturday. Come early and stay
late.
Post time is 7:15 p.m.
