The top five finishers in each of
the $50,000 elims earned starting berths in the Meadowlands Pace final on
Saturday, July 14.
Sweet Lou held off a late surge by
A Rocknroll Dance to capture the first elim by a neck in 1:49.1. Dave Palone steered the defending divisional
champion to his 14th win in 17 starts for trainer Ron Burke and owners Burke
Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Larry Karr and Phil Collura.
“I thought he was okay,” Palone
said. “I’m not sure that I raced him how
I wanted to race him. I was probably
looking to follow tonight. I thought the
horse to beat was A Rocknroll Dance, who was on my back, and I got to back him
up a little bit. We still got home in
:26.4 and I don’t think speed was ridiculously good tonight. I have mixed emotions. I know this colt wasn’t at his best tonight
and I know Ronnie [Burke] will have him at his best next week.”
Kenneth Jacobs’ Heston Blue Chip
held on for a career best 1:49 victory in the second elim with Tim Tetrick at
the lines. The prolific Linda Toscano
trainee is now perfect in five starts this season and has just two losses in 18
career starts.
“He was a little ranker tonight
then he has been in the past,” Tetrick.
“He left well and I put a few in the hole. Time to Roll came and I let him go [to the
lead]. My horse didn’t want to sit. When I came to the top of the lane I went
ahead and deuce-popped on Time To Roll, and my horse really raced game all the
way to the wire.”
The field for the Meadowlands Pace
in alphabetical order: Allstar Legend, A Rocknroll Dance, Bolt The Duer, Heston
Blue Chip, Pet Rock, Simply Business, State Treasurer, Sweet Lou, Thinking Out
Loud, Time To Roll.
The elimination winners will
select their starting posts for the final at Tuesday’s draw, which will take
place at 12:30 p.m. at the new Winners Bayonne.
All Meadowlands Racetrack horsemen and owners are invited to watch the
post position draw and get a sneak preview of the facility before it opens to
the public. Horsemen should RSVP to
Jennifer Bongiorno at jbongiorno@newmracing.com
or 201-460-4166. Winners Bayonne Fifth
Street
