Still glowing from a Grand Opening
of the new facility just days ago, the fall harness meet at Meadowlands Racing
& Entertainment presents a stellar stakes card worth over $3.4 million in
purses to the very best horses in racing on Saturday, November 30. Headlining
the star-studded program are the $500,000 finals of the Inaugural TVG Free For
All trot and pace.
The pace (race 10) offers the
ultimate contest of old versus young with sophomore star Captaintreacherous
battling the best older pacers on the continent in the match up that everyone
wants to see. He enters the competition via a clause in the conditions offering
an invitation to the winner of the three year old Breeders Crown. His
connections, Captaintreacherous Racing, manager Myron Bell, trainer Tony Alagna
and driver Tim Tetrick boldly accepted the challenge.
“The Captain’s” resume includes many of the
2013 major sophomore stakes including the Meadowlands Pace and North America
Cup while earning over $2 million this season and nearly $3 million off his 21
wins in 25 career starts. His syndication, announced in October, place his
value in the $12 million range.
The TVG Pacing Final competition is
very deep with the lifetime earnings of the ten horses just shy of $20
million. At the top of that list is the iron-tough nine year old
Foiled Again, the all-time money winningest pacer in harness history. Foiled
Again won the last of the preliminary legs on Saturday past in 1:49.3 for his
regular team of driver Yannick Gingras and trainer Ron Burke. He is closing in
on $6 million lifetime for owners Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi and JJK Racing.
Pet Rock has had a great campaign
and is but one fifth of a second away from holding the world speed record for
the mile on all three track sizes concurrently. A win would vault him past the
million mark in seasonal earnings in what is his last career start before
retiring to stud in Ohio. Virgil Morgan, Jr trains, Dave Miller driver for
owners Frank Bellino and Midland Acres.
The race is a media focus, with a Facebook page having been
created expressly for this event. By following the link and casting your vote,
Meals On Wheels will receive a cash donation. Follow along on twitter as well and mark your posts with
#BigM, #Captain or #FoiledAgain for your favorite.
The TVG FFA trot (race 6) fields
the seven best older trotters currently racing with likely favorite Market
Share’s task made a bit more difficult by drawing the outside post. A win would
cement year end honors in the division for Market Share, who would eclipse
$1 million this year and $3 million life for owners Richard Gutnick, TLP
Stables and William Augustine. Linda Toscano conditions the four year old son
of Revenue S and Tetrick has the mount.
The supporting card offers the
current number one in harness horse of the year polls, Bee A Magician, who will
put her season long unbeaten streak of sixteen on the line in the $253,000 Moni
Maker (race 11) stake for owners Mel Hartman, Herb Liverman and David Mc
Duffee. She’ll vault past $1.5 million on the year with a victory for Brian
Sears and Nifty Norman, her driver and trainer respectively.
The $167,500 Nadia Lobell (race 3)
lost some sparkle when division leader I Luv The Nitelife was sidelined today
with an injury, but still boasts a great match up between the fastest female
harness horse ever in Shebestingin, American National winner and current “hot
filly” in the division Charisma Hanover and last season’s leader
Somwherovrarainbow.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Fall
Final Four for freshmen colts and fillies offers the last look of the season at
many of those division leaders with nearly $2 million on the line for those
races.
There is much more to come in the
next several days regarding this exciting night of racing. All of the pertinent
info will be available at the Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment website. Post time on
Saturday is 7:15pm, you don’t want to miss this card!
