By Dave Little, Meadowlands Media
Relations
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – So much for
drawn-out suspense.
Driver Yannick Gingras is not inching
but streaking his way toward the 7,000-win plateau for his career, as after
scoring four times on the Friday Meadowlands card, the 39-year-old Quebec
native now has 6,996 lifetime victories.
Right after being named the track’s
Driver of the Week for winning a half-dozen times last weekend (Dec. 27-29),
Gingras was off and running in the first race after a late driver change,
picking up 2-1 public choice Tech Titan and scoring in 1:55 on the front end in
a low-range conditioned trot.
Pappy Go Go would come next in 1:52.4
in a high-class conditioned trot, although things didn’t look all that good
down the backside.
The Andrew Harris-trainee lost ground
after vacating the rail before the half in race seven and did not look like he
would come close to delivering on his 6-5 promise.
But Gingras knew what he had,
tweeting: “He runs in pretty good, so they have him rigged for that. But once
he hit the backstretch he was then pretty rough and running out. Once we hit
the last turn, he straightened up and was fine.”
Texican gave Gingras his third of the
night as the 3-5 favorite in the ninth race mid-range conditioned trot after
following perfect second-over cover, just getting past a stubborn Possessed
Fashion as they hit the wire in 1:54.
Bizet scored for the fourth time in
his last six starts in the 12th race trot for non-winners of three
races as Gingras racked up win No. 4. The result was a never-in-doubt rated
speed score in 1:54.3 as the 4-5 public choice.
THE ‘PLAINRIDGE PHENOM’ DOUBLES: Mitch Cushing had quite a year in
2018, and so far in 2019, things are continuing to click for the 20-year-old
driver.
Cushing, who finished second in the
dash-win standings and first in win percentage (among those with at least 15
victories) at Plainridge Park last year, had a big impact on the Big M Friday
program, winning twice on the card, helping to key a big payout in the track’s
50-Cent Pick-5 wager.
Blitz Victory was the first winner of
the night for Cushing in the third race low-range conditioned trot in 1:55.4,
making his fans smile at odds of 12-1 after following live cover. The winning
Trifecta combination of 1-9-5 – with the second- and third-place finishers each
going off at odds of 50-1 – came back $17,370.80.
The young pilot came back in the next
race to score at 6-1 with Western Redhot in 1:54.2 in a $7,500 claiming pace.
The Cushing effect on the Pick-5 was profound. The popular wager, which has
been relocated to races one through five, returned $3,258.30 after $64,727 in
action was taken. The other three legs of the bet were won by ‘havable’ horses
who went off at 2-1, 6-1 and 5-2, respectively.
A LITTLE MORE: There were four winning favorites on
the card and Gingras drove them all. … The 50-Cent Pick-4 was its usual popular
self, as a meet-high $106,836 was pushed through the windows. There were plenty
who cashed in, as the winning combination of 8-6,7,8-9-9 returned $95.20
despite only one winning favorite during the sequence. … All-source handle on
the 13-race card totaled $2,830,776, good for second best at the meeting. The
per race average of $217,752 was a meet high. … Racing resumes Saturday night
at 7:15 p.m.
