Meadowlands: Greenshoe, Darling Mearas, Western Joe among qualifying winners

Saturday morning's qualifiers at the Meadowlands were held under mostly sunny skies, negligible wind, and temperatures in the 60’s, with the track rated fast as they began at 10:00 A.M.

Trotting fillies opened the card with the good pair of Evident Beauty (David Miller) and Beautiful Sin (Yannick Gingras) crossing the wire together in-hand, the mile in 1:58 4/5 (28 2/5 last quarter). Both were making their second start. Red Mile Grand Circuit winner Evident Beauty appeared flawless for trainer Nifty Norman and owners Mel Hartman, Little E, and R A W Equine, while Beautiful Sin looked healthy after sustaining a serious tendon laceration that ended her freshman season prematurely.

Greenshoe clearly holds great promise with his remarkable speed but often authored his own undoing last season via his anxious temperament. Today was another triumph for the connections as Greenshoe looked more comfortable going to the gate. Driver Brian Sears was able to settle the colt in third through slow fractions, then got the response he wanted when the colt ground up uncovered and wore down a good colt in Super Schissel (Gingras) through a 27 1/5 end to a 1:55 1/5 mile. Great things may well be in store for owner Anders Strom (Courant Inc) and trainer Marcus Melander if they’re able to continue to harness the power of the enigmatic Father Patrick colt.

Ake Svanstedt unveiled the Swedish star Darling Mearas this morning as the career winner of over three quarters of a million dollars led at every call, then held pocket-sitter Pat Matters (Matt Kakley) at bay in-hand, the mile in 1:56 1/5 (27 4/5 last quarter). Darling Mearas has been made eligible to the top US stakes for mare trotters by owners Snogarps Stable.

With a stretch headwind beginning to pick up, The Veteran was a 1:53 4/5 winner this morning for his new connections, the Paul Kelley Stable. Mark MacDonald held the powerful 4-year-old Muscle Mass horse off-the-pace as Manchego (Scott Zeron) set fast fractions while appearing somewhat fresh before rolling off stride on the final bend. MacDonald had The Veteran marching up uncovered by then, and he held off Ice Attraction (Svanstedt) comfortably. Trainer Kelley owns him with SRF Stable, Winske and Michaels.

Odds On St Lucie (Matt Krueger) closed nicely to get the 1:54 3/5 (27 4/5 final quarter) win today over Petticoat Series winner Catch An Ace (D. Miller). Tony Alagna trains the winner for Odds On Racing.

Western Joe (Zeron) is making his way back to the wars and took another step forward with a 1:52 2/5 (27 3/5 final quarter) win from the pocket this morning over Four Staces (Dexter Dunn) and Limelight Beach (D. Miller). He’s had two good Q’s back now for trainer Chris Choate and owners Anthony Ruggeri & Joe Tosies.

Sophomore colt pacers capped the card and Bettor's Wish was an impressive out of the pocket winner for Dexter Dunn in 1:52 4/5 (27 3/5 last quarter), clearing pace-setter Captain McKee (Tim Tetrick) by a couple at the end. Trainer Chris Ryder owns the sharp Bettor’s Delight colt with Bella Racing, Fair Island Farm and Ken Solomon.

--press release (the Meadowlands)--