y Dave Little, Meadowlands Media
Relations
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Driver Dexter
Dunn was electric at the Meadowlands Saturday night, and so was the action, as
Dunn scored four times on the program and wagering reached the magic $3-million
mark for the fifth time in 2019.
Dunn got his night off to a quick
start, sweeping the Early Daily Double with a pair of Tim Lancaster trainees.
Smileandsaycheese came from well off the pace to take the opener, a conditioned
pace, in 1:52.1 at odds of 12-1 before 2-1 favorite Four Staces completed the
DD – which paid $85.80 – in a $15,000 up to $20,000 claiming handicap pace in
1:52.4.
The New Zealand native swept another
Daily Double, this one beginning in race four, scoring with the Chris
Ryder-trained American World in 1:53 in a non-winners of one pace as the 2-1
second choice before winning with Rather Swell, the 7-5 public choice, for
trainer Mike Watson in a $10,000 up to $12,500 claiming handicap pace in
1:54.1. That DD returned $20.80.
All-source wagering totaled
$3,082,637, good for the fifth-best night of action at the Big M – as well as
the industry – this year.
A total of $313,088 was bet on the
opener, $345,218 on the fourth race ($103,276 in the Exacta pool alone) and
$317,809 on the fifth as those three races accounted for $976,115 of the
evening’s action.
The 50-Cent Pick-4 pool reached six
figures for the seventh time in 11 tries, as $101,640 was poured into the pot.
A LITTLE MORE: Dover Downs invader Highalator
destroyed a high-class conditioned field of pacers in the eighth race by 5¾
lengths. Driver Richard Still guided the Jenny Bier trainee to the easy speed
win in 1:50.2 as the 6-5 favorite for his 23rd victory in 55
lifetime starts. … Rebel Rouser made the lead while parked at the quarter and
went down the road from there in an ultra-competitive non-winners of four on
the pace in race 12. The Robert Cleary trainee sprinted his final quarter in
:26.4 on the way to his fourth straight score. Andy McCarthy guided the winner
to a lifetime-best mile time of 1:51.1. … Racing resumes Friday at 7:15 p.m.,
featuring the second edition of the 20-Cent Can-Am Pick-4.
