East Rutherford, NJ –
With stakes racing concluded for 2017 the Winter Meet kicks off at The
Meadowlands on Friday evening with an 11 race overnight card and a dozen more
on tap for Saturday.
Friday’s offering
features optimum field size and competitive groups. With the recent closing of
Pocono and Plainridge there are horses and drivers coming from every direction
making for some real pari-mutuel puzzlers.
Among the drivers on the
Friday card is Anthony Napolitano who took the crown as leading driver of the
2016 Winter-Spring meet in his first extended stay at The Meadowlands. Anthony
put together an impressive run, enjoying remarkable success over the mile oval
without the benefit of a top barn to drive for. As a result he became a
favorite of the longshot player by bringing in an inordinate number of winners
at long odds.
Misfortune struck soon
after that accomplishment was realized when Anthony sustained a serious injury
to his back in a racing accident at Pocono at the end of May keeping him out of
the sulky for two months and compromising his season.
A winner of nearly 2,500
races in a career that began in 2001, Anthony recovered gradually and put
together another solid season at Pocono in 2017 and has over $2.4 million on
his card in 2017.
On Friday Napolitano picked
up drives in 10 of the 11 races, including a couple for perennial leading
trainer Ron Burke which can only help his quest to resume Big M success.
Another live steer is on
Lauderdale in the featured seventh race trot who Napolitano steered to a career
best 1:53.1 win this spring for trainer Jonas Czernyson. The strapping
seven-year-old career winner of over $400,000 is getting class relief and has
drawn post nine on Friday for owner Millstream Farms.
All of the Meadowlands
signature guaranteed wagers are in place for Friday including the Survivor Pick
10, Pick 5 and pair of Pick 4’s and the 11th
race Jackpot Hi 5 carry-over pool is up to nearly $25,000.
Program pages for some exotics and Dave
Brower’s race reviews are available at no cost via The
Meadowlands website.
Post Time is 7:15 p.m.
