By RUS MidAtlantic
(East Rutherford, NJ) – A field of eight trotters will be
competing in the $3,000 RUS MidAtlantic Trot at Meadowlands Gaming &
Entertainment Saturday night, October 20, 2018.
Post time for the non-wagering racing under saddle event will be 7:00pm,
prior to the first wagering event on the card.
Four of the eight horses figure to be competing for the major spoils in
this miler with a fifth horse providing a little foreign intrigue.
Funny Photo (Sophie Engerran; post position six) comes into
the race with a 5-2-3-0 record for the season for owner/trainer/rider
Engerran. The nine-year-old altered son
of Classic Photo was the winner of the RUS New York Fair Final at Monticello
Raceway in early September, crossing the line in a 2:02.4 romp. Most recently, Funny Photo has a pair of
second place finishes at Batavia and Saratoga.
A year off from RUS must have been what the doctor ordered
for No Recess (Sietske Dijhkof; post seven) as the nine-year-old son of Rich
Boy has scored two speedy victories over the upstate New York half mile
ovals. At the end of September, No
Recess scored a 2:02.1 victory at Batavia while this past weekend, the gelding
made an early break yet went on to win by four lengths at Saratoga in
2:02.2. The question is will No Recess be
able to take advantage of the mile oval to set a new lifetime mark in victory? Kyle Spagnola is the trainer.
Normally, Hyway Marcus (Sasha Moczulski, post eight) would
be the automatic selection on the RUS MidAtlantic circuit but he is meeting
some speedy types here[AS1] ,
so the outcome is far from certain. The seven-year-old
Gut Instinct gelding suffered a rare miscue at Saratoga in his last start getting
caught in close quarters. Marcus was
able to recover and get within a length of the leader at the three-quarter pole
but being parked out after the break took its toll and resulted in his tiring
to finish third. Despite post position
eight, he figures to be in the thick of things for his owner/trainer/driver.
One True Friend (Hillary Hartnett, post five) comes into the
race with a question mark but can step up and be a factor. The lone mare in the race shows a couple of
breaks of late and in her last start, Hartnett lost her irons at the start of the
race requiring the horse to pull up before the finish. Despite this, the mare stayed flat before
being pulled up. An early season
qualifier of 2:02.1 over a sloppy Vernon Downs oval shows ‘Trudy’ belongs in
the race and can be competitive should she manage to stay out of trouble. Wesley Miller trains OTF for owner/rider
Hartnett.
A French-bred horse making his American debut under
saddle? This is the case with Atout De
Fontaine (Sofia Zingale; post position four), an eight-year-old gelding by
Oxford Du Rib – Mistina De Traqui by Quebir De Chenu. ADF came to the United States to take part in
the France-America series at Yonkers but he made it abundantly clear he didn’t
care for the American game. However, a
2:05.2 victory in a Rosecroft qualifier for trainer/rider Zingale would suggest
a return to the saddle is what is needed for Fontaine who has a 1:56 mile rate
mark in monté
racing in Europe. He is a wild
card in this event.
Other starters in the race (from post one out) are Keenan
(Maria Buchanan) who is making his first start under saddle in 2018 and Credit
Blues (Stephanie Jacobs) who is making his first lifetime start off a 2:06.3
qualifying effort at Ocean Downs in early August. Another first timer is Puddin N Pie (Vanessa
Karlewicz) who makes his debut off a second-place finish in a Rosecroft
qualifier.
