Meadowlands: Apple Bottom Jeans goes for Burning Point sweep on Saturday

Still a couple of weeks from the start of the championship meet at The Meadowlands when the A.J. Cutler Memorial will kick off the stakes season on May 5, the track looks to whet the appetite of fans with a trio of late closers this weekend featuring some hard-hitting older trotters and pacers.

Taking center stage from the three finals is clearly Apple Bottom Jeans. The 5-year-old mare arrived from Dover Downs for the Burning Point series three weeks ago and has swept through the first two legs as she pleased for trainer Kevin Switzer and driver Victor Kirby.

“She’s very sharp right now and definitely stamped herself as the one to beat in this series,” said Kirby. “Kevin Switzer has done a wonderful job prepping her along after a layoff.”

Coming off a career best 1:50 1/5 victory last Saturday (April 14), Apple Bottom Jeans has been nothing short of spectacular. In both wins she was able to move first-over and blow past her competition in the stretch.

“She’s very versatile,” said Kirby. “She can leave as good as any of them and she can race the way I’ve raced her the last couple of weeks, which seems to be the way she prefers it. As long as she has a target, she’s going to get them. That’s the way she’s been the last couple of weeks and I thought the last week was more impressive than the previous week.”

While Kirby will enter the $54,500 Burning Point final for older pacing mares on Saturday (April 21) with plenty of confidence, the field does have some fierce competitors with the capability of pacing a mile in the 1:50 range likely needed to win. Bettorhaveanother was a first round winner in 1:51 3/5 and owns a career mark of 1:50 3/5 at Dover while Valuable Art responded to the addition of Lasix to score a 1:51 2/5 leg two victory.

“There are a few good mares in there,” said Kirby, who will steer the Kdk Standardbreds-owned Apple Bottom Jeans from post two. “The mare I drove last week of (trainer) Linda Toscano, she kind of got locked in and had a lot of pace finishing, that’s Stormtracker. Valuable Art is obviously a good mare and (Ron) Burke’s mare, Bettorhaveanother. Those are all good mares and I don’t think you can take any of them lightly. Apple Bottom Jeans has to show up and be on the top of her game again or she can get beat, it is a horse race.”

The 10-horse Burning Point field is carded as race six on the 10-race Saturday night card that also features the first race $53,500 Whata Baron Final for older pacers. First leg winner Windsong Leo will face off with second heat victor Barimah A in the compact field of six.

The trotters take the spotlight on Friday with the $52,500 Shiaway St Pat, race seven on the program. Sutton, who missed all of 2017, will look to build on an impressive 1:51 3/5 second round win in the final versus a strong field that contains Elysium Lindy, Opulent Yankee and Deep Impact.

Post time for both the Friday and Saturday night cards is 7:15 p.m.

Click here for Meadowlands Saturday entries.