Meadowlands Media Relations
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – Eight of the
horses in the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown weekly Top 10 Poll will be in
action on the Saturday (July 13) night program at the Meadowlands, and a
slightly different wagering menu – which promises to create big pools – will
also be offered on the highly-anticipated Crawford Farms Meadowlands Pace Night
card.
Top-ranked Shartin N seeks her ninth
win in a row in the Golden Girls for free-for-all mare pacers. Her last
Meadowlands appearance came on November 24th of last year when she
won the TVG Mares pace in 1:50.3.
No. 2 Atlanta, who a week ago
recorded the fastest trotting Big M mile ever of 1:49.1 in the Graduate Series
Final, will look to stay perfect in seven seasonal starts in the Hambletonian
Maturity, an open event for 4-year-olds at a mile and an eighth.
In the evening’s feature, Captain
Crunch (No. 3) and Bettor’s Wish (No. 5) will go head-to-head in a second
consecutive major event in the glamourous 3-year-old male pacing division, the
$682,650 Crawford Farms Meadowlands Pace. Four weeks ago, ‘Crunch’ bested
‘Wish’ by three-quarters of a length in the North America Cup.
No. 4 Greenshoe, whose explosive late
rally left him a head short at the wire in the June 29th Beal, will
try to make it six wins in nine lifetime tries in the second of two divisions
of the Stanley Dancer Memorial for 3-year-old open trotters. Speaking of polls,
Greenshoe is currently the top-ranked horse in Meadowlands’ track announcer Ken
Warkentin’s weekly ‘Road to the Hambletonian’ Top 10.
Last Saturday, in the Graduate Series
Final for pacers, sixth-ranked Lather Up became only the second horse in harness
racing history to complete a mile in 1:46. He’ll take on defending Horse of the
Year McWicked in the William Haughton Memorial at a mile and an eighth.
No. 9 Warrawee Ubeaut, who was upset
two weeks ago in the Lynch, takes on the horse that beat her – Stonebridge Soul
– in the Mistletoe Shalee for 3-year-old pacing fillies at a mile and an
eighth.
Finally, Hannelore Hanover (No. 10)
takes on Darling Mearas S, one of only four horses to ever break the
1:50-barrier on the trot at the Big M, in the second leg of the Miss
Versatility for open mares.
WAGERING MENU: The Saturday card will feature an
extra 50-Cent Pick-4 as well as an extra Pick-3 as compared to a normal 13-race
card.
There will be Win, Place, Show,
Exacta, Trifecta and Superfecta wagering on all 13 races; Daily Doubles will be
offered on races 1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 8-9, 9-10 and 12-13; the 50-Cent Pick-5 will
begin with Race 1, but will have a $50,000 guaranteed pool instead of the usual
$25,000; the 20-Cent Survivor Pick-10 will be offered starting with Race 3
while the pair of 20-Cent Jackpot Super-High Fives will be in their usual
spots, Races 5 and 13.
Fans of the track’s signature wager,
the 50-Cent Pick-4, will get to double their pleasure. There will be two rounds
of the bet on Saturday. The first – which will be made up of the Golden Girls,
Hambletonian Maturity, Crawford Farms Meadowlands Pace and Haughton Memorial –
takes place on Races 6-9 and will offer a guaranteed pool of $100,000, while
the second will be on Races 10-13 with a $50,000 promise.
Keep in mind that the Survivor,
Pick-5 and Pick-4 all offer a low 15 percent takeout.
CHECK YOUR WATCH: The Crawford Farms Meadowlands Pace
field will head to the gate at 10:10 p.m. … Racing on Friday and Saturday night
will get underway at the usual 7:15 p.m. … For the remainder of the meeting,
racing will be conducted on a Friday-Saturday 7:15 p.m. basis, except for
Hambletonian Day, Saturday, Aug. 3, when the card gets underway at noon.
