By Dave Little, Meadowlands Media Relations
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – A pair of
big-time Hambletonian contenders – Dancinginthedark M and Venerate – bounced
back from poor performances when they made breaks with impressive victories
Saturday night in the W.N. Reynolds Memorial for 3-year-old trotting colts and geldings
at The Meadowlands Saturday night.
Dancinginthedark M ($3.20 as the 3-5
favorite) was moved to the front of the line in his $42,550 split by driver Tim
Tetrick before the half and held sway from there as heavy rains fell to record
a 1¼-length victory over Take All Comers in a lifetime-best 1:51.4. The Marcus
Melander trainee is a son of Readly Express-Leila and is now six-for-11
lifetime.
Venerate (Love You-Peaceful Kemp) had
to overcome post nine and a brutal parked-out trip to get his mojo back in the
other $43,050 division for males. The winter-book Hambletonian favorite floated
away from the gate from post nine and was handled with care by driver Andy
Miller around the first turn. Racing first-over he steadily advanced on leader
Sonofamistery, the even-money public choice, down the backstretch but lost a
little ground off the far turn into the stretch.
After they straightened up for the
wire, Venerate began a steady gain once again and kicked into another gear at
the sixteenth pole. Nearing the wire, Sonofamistery went off stride, but it
likely would not have mattered, as the Julie Miller-trained Venerate ($8.80 as
the third betting choice) scored by a half-length in 1:52.1 after a mile that
saw him never see the rail. After a brief judges’ inquiry, no action was taken
against second-place finisher Sonofamistery.
New Jersey Sire Stakes champion
Beltassima ($6.40 as the 2-1 second choice) won the first of two splits for
3-year-old trotting fillies as the daughter of Trixton-Beltane Hanover gunned down
Lady Chaos by three-quarters-of-a-length in the $49,050 dash in a lifetime-best
1:52.3 for driver Andy McCarthy and trainer Tony Alagna.
Piper Hanover ($4.80 as the 7-5
favorite) rallied from off the pace to score by 1¾ lengths over Darlene Hanover
in 1:53 in the other division for fillies, this one for a purse of $49,550. The
Father Patrick-Personal Style miss made it four wins in five seasonal starts
for the team of McCarthy and Alagna.
A LITTLE MORE: McCarthy had the hot hand among the
drivers, recording four winners on the card. … Ron Burke trained four to
victory lane. … All-source handle totaled $3,524,173. … Racing resumes Friday
at 6:20 p.m.
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