East
Rutherford, NJ - Hot and humid conditions greeted Meadowlands patrons on
Saturday evening (July 22), with a pair of Arthur Tompkins Memorial events for
three-year old trotters highlighting the action.
In the $49,870 split for fillies, it was a dominate down the road win for Feed
Your Head, as Yannick Gingras hustled her right to the lead from post three and
carved out reasonable fractions of 27.4, 57, and 1:25, before effortlessly
sprinting clear down the lane with a 27 final quarter to win by 2 1/4 lengths
in 1:52.
Jimmy Takter trains the daughter of Muscle Hill for Melby Gard Inc of Delray
Beach, Florida. It was the first win of her sophomore campaign, and a career
best effort. She returned $4.80 as the slight second choice, with 3-5 favorite
Overdraft Volo (Andy Miller) having to settle for second after launching a
first over bid around the far turn.
The $59,370 split for colts attracted a contentious field of ten, and went as
the seventh race of the night.
Perfect Spirit (Ake Svanstedt), fresh off a fourth place finish in the $500k
Beal at Pocono, blasted right to the top and led the field through an opening
quarter of 27.3. He faced early pressure from his stablemate, Yes Mickey
(Andrew McCarthy), who took over the lead up the backstretch. Fly On (Andy
Miller) was left uncovered in a tough spot alongside the Svanstedt trainees
past the half in a quick 55.2.
Fly On would eventually flatten out after the tough trip, which allowed the
Svanstedt trainees to draw clear shortly after three-quarters in 1:23.4, making
way for a stablemate slugfest down the lane, with Perfect Spirit using that
pocket trip to edge by Yes Mickey to win by a half-length in a sparkling
1:51.2.
Perfect Spirit has now won three times in his last four starts for the SRF
Stable of Delray Beach, Florida. Southwind Hydro (Marcus Johansson) rallied
from far back to finish third, beaten four lengths.
International Moni, Fine Tuned Lady take overnights
Hambletonian hopeful, International Moni , won a $15,000 overnight event for
three-year old trotting colts earlier on the card. He got away in the pocket
behind Enterprise (Tim Tetrick), and skimmed the cones to cruise to a 1 1/2
length win in 1:52 over that rival. Frank Antonacci trains the son of Love
You-Moni Maker for the Moni Maker Stable.
Fine Tuned Lady (Andy Miller) cruised to an easy victory in a $15,000 overnight
for three-year old trotting fillies, darting right to the lead en route to a
1:52.2 win. It was her 9th win in only her 19th career start for trainer John
Butenschoen and owners William Wiswell and M&L of Delaware Inc.
Andrew McCarthy was the driving star of the night with four wins.
Total handle on the 12-race card was $2,056,320.
Live racing resumes next Friday. Post time is 7:15 p.m.
For more information visit www.playmeadowlands.com.
