Meadowlands: Pace hopefuls top Friday feature
Because of a World Cup soccer match that is taking place at MetLife Stadium on Saturday (June 27), live racing at The Meadowlands will be offered just once this week, on Friday (June 26) night.
Post time is the usual 6:35 p.m. and there will be 15 races on the card, including a feature that will be of great interest to those looking forward to the July 11, $800,000 (est.) Meadowlands Pace presented by Genova Burns LLC.
The 13th race on the program features a $35,000 purse for 3-year-old colts and geldings who are non-winners of five races lifetime, but with six of the seven horses eligible to the Pace, it might as well have been written as a 3-year-old open.
Of the half-dozen Pace horses in the field, three are in the track’s weekly Road to the Meadowlands Pace Top 10, and all are looking for an effort to prepare them to race well in the Pace eliminations on Saturday, July 4.
Always B Charlie, No. 8 in the poll, is a lightly raced son of Always B Miki-My Little Delight who qualified a week ago fourth in 1:52 4/5 while Fragment was winning in 1:51 1/5. He’ll depart from post three and is 6-1 on the morning line. The Nancy Takter trainee, who will be driven by Scott Zeron, has won three of four starts this season, including a 1:51 2/5 score in his last pari-mutuel try at Pocono Downs.
The Besim Odza-trained Azrael Blue Chip (Perfect Sting-Bathsheba), No. 9, had a tough go of it in the North America Cup, finishing 10th after changing to all aluminum shoes. The Cup final was his first non-top-three finish this year, so Odza is hoping for a rebound in the Pace after Friday night’s prep.
“I definitely was at fault (in the Cup),” said Odza. “But we are back to normal. He trained great (Wednesday). I think he’s at like 90 percent right now. There are still things I am working on, but right now, he’s right where I want him.”
With Andy McCarthy opting to race at The Meadows in the Currier & Ives, Brett Beckwith will pick up the drive with Azrael Blue Chip, who has post two and is the 3-1 early favorite. “Brett’s got a good set of hands, so I think he’ll get along with him.”
Gentleman’s Club, No. 10, hasn’t been seen since a seventh-place finish in his Cup elimination, when the son of Downbytheseaside-See You At Peelers got fired up as favorite Beau Jangles challenged him through demanding fractions, which ended up with Gentleman’s Club not making it to the final.
“I think we’ll race him off the pace (on Friday),” said trainer Aaron Lambert. “We don’t want to get him revved up again.” Another horse who is driven regularly by McCarthy, Dexter Dunn will take the lines Friday night with the 7-2 chance who leaves from post five.
THE SCHEDULE: Live harness racing at The Meadowlands will be conducted on a Friday-Saturday basis through Sept. 12 with a first-race post time of 6:35 p.m.
There are several exceptions to those rules.
On July 4, there is a stakes-packed program that includes two Graduate finals as well as eliminations for the Meadowlands Pace. Post time is 6 p.m. At the conclusion of the card, the track will have a fabulous fireworks show.
The 101st edition of the $1 million Hambletonian is on August 8. That card begins at noon.
Finally, there will be two cards that take place on a Thursday. Those programs are on July 2 and August 6.
There are additional changes to the schedule with the World Cup soccer tournament currently taking place.
There will be no live racing on Saturday, June 27, which created the need for the additional Thursday on July 2.
Finally, The Big M will be closed for simulcasting on the following dates, when World Cup matches will be played at MetLife Stadium:
· Thursday, June 25
· Tuesday, June 30
· Sunday, July 5
· Sunday, July 19
“We are hoping that our regular customers don’t mind some inconvenience when the World Cup is in town,” said track Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Jason Settlemoir of the competition that concludes July 19. “But the fact is, those days play out like Football Sundays when the Jets or Giants are playing home games. The difference is, there is no parking on site. We are open on days when there is soccer to any rideshare customers on property. On those days, patrons can get their action in the FanDuel Sportsbook.”
-edited release (by Dave Little for Meadowlands)