By Dave Little, Meadowlands Media
Relations
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – If excelling
with trotters was a course one could take in school, there’s little doubt Ake
Svanstedt would get straight ‘A’s.
Saturday night at the Meadowlands,
Svanstedt – serving as both trainer and driver – won both divisions of the first
leg of the Graduate Series for 4-year-olds on the trot with Six Pack and Muscle
M Up.
In the first division, the look of
the race changed with the scratch of 2018 Hambletonian champion Atlanta, but
that appeared to suit Six Pack just fine. The son of Muscle Mass-Pleasing Lady
was on the move from the start and moved to the lead while parked past the
quarter in :27.2, putting 3-5 favorite Fiftydallarbill in the pocket.
A :30.3 sleepwalk of a second quarter
followed as the top two betting choices raced 1-2 all the way to the wire.
Fiftydallarbill rallied some in deep stretch but was no threat to Six Pack, who
held on by a half-length in 1:53.1 in his 2019 debut.
As the 6-5 second choice, Six Pack
returned $4.40 to his backers while winning for the 16th time from
24 career starts, good for earnings of $1,383,290. A year ago, his major wins
included the Kentucky Futurity and Yonkers Trot.
While Six Pack has a monster resume,
stablemate Muscle M Up does not, but that did not stop the son of Muscle
Hill-Fashion Athena from taking the other Graduate division in a sizzling
lifetime best of 1:51.2.
Svanstedt once again asked his horse
for early speed and got it, racing on the lead at the quarter in :27.2 before
yielding to 3-5 chalk Mission Accepted. Crystal Fashion raced first-over to go
after the leader around the far turn with Muscle M Up waiting for some space to
race.
He found it by swerving out to the
four path for the stretch drive once there was enough clearance to do so and
cruised past the field to record a half-length win over Crystal Fashion.
Mission Accepted was third.
The winner returned $17.60 to his
backers as the third choice in the wagering and won for the seventh time in 14
lifetime starts. His earnings stand at $87,972.
A LITTLE MORE: Tim Tetrick drove four winners on the
card, while Andy McCarthy had two to run his total to nine over the last three
programs. … Betting on the 50-Cent Pick-4 was vigorous as a total of $111,102
was poured into the pot. Those sharp enough to have the sequence with winner’s
odds of 4-1, 7-1, 7-2 and 11-1 hit for $1,182.15. … Conditions were ideal as of
the 11 pacing events on the card, seven went in under 1:50. … All-source
wagering was just short of the $3 million mark, as $2,947,166 was pushed
through the windows. … Racing resumes Friday at 7:15 p.m. Gabe Prewitt will
make his return to the Meadowlands’ TV team and serve as co-host of the live
in-house simulcast show.
