By Dave Little, Meadowlands Media
Relations
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Racing luck
usually plays a part when one wins a race. Getting an expert steer doesn’t
hurt, either. Those two factors were on display in the Saturday night feature
at the Meadowlands, as Caviart Luca and Big M leading driver Yannick Gingras
nailed favorite K Ryan Bluechip at the wire in the featured Preferred for
pacers.
Speedsters Castle Flight and New
Talent were on the go early. Castle Flight led at the quarter in :27.3 while
New Talent, fresh off his Big M season’s-fastest 1:49.2 score last week, then
brushed to the top at the three-eighths and hit the half in :55.1 as the 2-1
chalk K Ryan Bluechip was gradually chipping away at the leader’s edge racing
first-over. All the while, Caviart Luca was sitting in what appeared to be an
impossible spot – third at the rail – with four horses in the outer flow.
K Ryan Bluechip inched his way past
New Talent with a little less than three-sixteenths of a mile to go. Enter
racing luck and Gingras. Finding a seam just big enough as the field spread out
in the stretch, Gingras moved Caviart Luca off the rail to get directly behind
KRB with an eighth to go. Inside the sixteenth pole, Caviart Luca swung to the
outside and managed to get up by the smallest of noses at the wire. New Talent
held on for third.
“I just got lucky to find a seam in
the middle,” said Gingras, “my horse was sharp and ready.”
Making just his second start of the
year, Caviart Luca, eighth and last in his 2019 debut at Yonkers, returned
$10.40 as the third choice in the wagering for trainer Ron Burke and owners
Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi and Phillip Collura. The 8-year-old gelded son of
Somebeachsomewhere-Caviart Sierra, who completed the mile in 1:51.1, has now
won 29-of-141 career starts and earned $742,535.
ANDY’S DANDY: Andy Miller piloted four winners on
the card, giving him seven for the weekend. Gingras was right behind him with
six, after winning three times on both Friday and Saturday.
On the training side, the red-hot
Jennifer Bongiorno made two Saturday winner’s circle visits, giving her three
victories for the weekend.
A LITTLE MORE: Wagering continued to be strong as
all-source betting totaled $2,919,538. … 50-Cent Pick-4 cashers walked away
with $903.80 by using 9-1 shot Pepper Guy and driver Dexter Dunn in the ninth
race. The winner’s odds of the other three horses in the sequence were 4-1, 9-2
and 3-2. … Dunn and Vinny Ginsburg each drove a pair of winners. … Racing
resumes Friday at 7:15 p.m. Bettors will have a new wager to try as that
evening will see the debut of the Can-Am Pick-4, a wager that requires players
to pick two winners at the Meadowlands and two at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
