Meadowlands: Hillexotic, Nicholas Beach take Saturday's Opens

Hillexotic and Nicholas Beach may have used different tactics, but both came up winners in the co-featured events at the Meadowlands Saturday night.

Hillexotic took the $31,500 Open 1 for trotters for the potent pair of trainer Ron Burke and driver Yannick Gingras. It was the first win of the year in five starts for the 6-year-old gelded son of Muscle Hill-Exotic Destination.

"He's had some physical issues," said Gingras. "But when I raced him here a couple of weeks ago (when second, missing a nose to Inaminute Hanover) he was good. Now, he's healthy and back to himself."

Gingras asked Hillexotic for early speed from post six in the seven-horse field and led at the quarter while parked in 27 2/5. Lovedbythemasses, the 8-5 favorite, followed Hillexotic to the quarter and went past that one to grab the front before the three-eighths, and took the field past the half in 56 seconds and three-quarters in 1:24 3/5.

Then, it was game on.

Gingras slid Hillexotic out of the pocket coming off the far turn before needing every inch of the final three-sixteenths-of-a-mile to gun down Lovedbythemasses at the wire by head in 1:51 2/5. Inaminute Hanover finished a close-up third.

"The trip worked out alright," said Gingras in a bit of an understatement. "I thought (Lovedbythemasses) was going to go out of there with me, and I was OK with it. I was worried about both horses in deep stretch. We were all trotting pretty good."

Hillexotic returned $7.80 to his backers as the 5-2 second choice in the wagering while raising his lifetime earnings to $641,120.

Nicholas Beach returned to his speed-flashing ways in taking the $36,000 Open 2/Open 1 Handicap for pacers in 1:50, getting back on track after dropping his last four outings, three as the public choice.

"We raced him from the back a few starts and this week we knew he was ready to go," said winning trainer Jenn Bongiorno, who has nicknamed her prized pupil 'Baby Nicky.' "He finished with tons of pace for a few starts, so tonight we gave him his chance (by racing on the front-end). We are proud of how hard he fought to win against such a super bunch of horses."

A 7-year-old gelded son of Somebeachsomewhere-Michelle My Gal, Nicholas Beach, whose lifetime-best 1:47 came at The Big M 11 months ago, took the lead away from Burnham Boy N just after the quarter before passing the half in 55 1/5 and three-quarters in 1:22 3/5.

A final quarter of 27 2/5 was just enough for Nicholas Beach to hold off Burnham Boy N by a neck. Lou's Pearlman, the 3-2 favorite, was positively airborne through the stretch, closing from next to last with a quarter to go to finish a close third.

Nicholas Beach, who was driven by Jenn's brother, Joe Bongiorno, paid $7.80 as the 5-2 third choice in the betting to lift his lifetime stats to 21 wins from just 48 starts, good for earnings of $480,730.

"This horse is all heart," said Jenn. "He wants to do his job and we couldn't appreciate him more."

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27 IN A ROW: All-source wagering totaled $3,098,801, keeping an impressive Big M betting streak alive.

There have been 27 Friday and Saturday night programs contested at the Meadowlands during 2023, and each one has seen betting bust the $3 million barrier.

During 2022, there were a total of 85 race cards contested at the mile oval, and betting went past the $3 million plateau 23 times.

A LITTLE MORE: Todd McCarthy led the driver colony with four winners on the night. Dave Miller won three on the betting card and added another victory in a non-betting Standardbred Retirement Foundation series dash. Burke had a training double, with both being driven by his go-to pilot Gingras. The 20-cent Pick 6 came back giant, as those with winning tickets collected $13,351.38 after a sequence that saw winner's odds of 1-1, 5-2, 5-2, 3-5, 24-1 and 2-1. Racing resumes Friday at 6:20 p.m.

--press release (Meadowlands)--