The stakes
calendar at The Meadowlands will have a distinctly different look for 2013 with
the focus shifting from two year olds stakes to events geared for the older
horse set.
Gone are the
Woodrow Wilson and Sweetheart. The Reynolds and Simpson freshman stakes have
been relocated to sister tracks Tioga & Vernon Downs and scheduled later in
the season. The Final Four (Governor's Cup, Three Diamonds, Valley Victory and
Goldsmith Maid) will be resurrected and added to The Meadowlands 2013 Fall meet
around Thanksgiving, placing the emphasis on high dollar races for two year
olds being offered from late August through November.
The really big news
is a brand new Free For All series, conceived by Jeff Gural. The
series will include the top older events at The Meadowlands, Breeders Crown
finals and Allerage Farm finals along with several $50,000 Opens at The
Meadowlands as legs from which points will be accumulated leading into the
$500,000 guaranteed final for both trotters and pacers on November 30.
A provision in the
conditions to invite the winner of the 3 year old Breeders Crown or
Hambletonian/Meadowlands Pace offers the hope that this year-end event may pit
the top three year old against the best older horses as the Breeders Cup
Classic does for the thoroughbreds, giving this new race serious Horse of the
Year implications.
The Meadowlands
Maturity for four year old pacers and trotters will debut in May with an
estimated $100,000 purse ($75,000 added) offered just for the cost of the
declaration fee.
Another new series for
2013 is the Hudson River for 4 & 5 year old NJ, NY or PA sires stakes
participants that have not won 4PM races or $150,000 outside of the state-bred
events. This one will travel, with $18,000 legs planned for PA and NY
as well as The Meadowlands before the $75,000e final at The Meadowlands.
New Meadowlands
President, Jeff Gural offered his observations on the revamped stakes program,
"I believe that unlike in the past, our best 3 year olds are likely to
race at 4 and as a result I believe the races for older horses will once again
have the kind of excitement that I grew up with when I started going to Yonkers
and Roosevelt over 50 years ago. I am looking forward to the upcoming season
and hopefully we can give our customers a chance to see the best older horses
at the Meadowlands more than once or twice as they try to accumulate points in
order to race in these year end races. Hopefully we can have a top 3 year old
enter to add to the mix".
Also returning to
The Big M in 2013 are the Moni Maker and Nadia Lobell, which are scheduled for
the Fall Meet in late November.
Live racing
returns to The Meadowlands on December 28 with a new post time of 7:15PM. The
schedule calls for racing Thursday, Friday and Saturday through March 16, then
Friday and Saturday for the balance of the year. The 2013 Championship Meet
begins on Friday, May 3 and will end with the Hambletonian Day card.
Full details
on the stakes are upcoming and all information will be available at The
Meadowlands website.
