Meadowlands: Pappardelle takes his shot at Jiggy Jog in Friday's Graduate

It's been a rather large climb for Pappardelle, a son of Wishing Stone from the Jenn Bongiorno stable. A victory in the John Brennan Trotting Series at Yonkers propelled him into the top tier of horses racing on the East Coast and on Friday he'll try to elevate his game once again in the lone $75,000 Graduate Series division for 4-year-old trotters on Friday night at the Meadowlands.

"He just keeps improving," said Joe Bongiorno, who has sat in the bike behind Pappardelle on the ride up the ladder this year that has seen him win four of seven starts, with his lone out-of-the-money finish a sixth-place effort in the Maxie Lee.

Joe Bongiorno was more than pleased with Pappardelle's second-place finish on June 11 at Harrah's Philadelphia.

"There aren't that many horses trotting in 1:50 and change," Bongiorno said. "He's really not as good cutting the mile as he is off a helmet."

On Friday in the sixth race, Papparedelle meets a solid group that includes last year's Hambletonian winner Cool Papa Bell (post six) among 10 rivals. Likely heavy favorite Jiggy Jog S (post five) is perhaps the lone horse in the race that concerns Bongiorno.

"Other than Jiggy Jog I think he can go with any of them," said Bongiorno of Pappardelle, who landed post two.

Jiggy Jog S beat the boys quite handily in the first Graduate leg contested on June 3 at Woodbine Mohawk Park. The daughter of Walner went down the road in a sparkling 1:50 3/5 mile with Dexter Dunn at the controls from trainer Ake Svanstedt.

On Friday, Svanstedt will have another in the field with the returning Justice, a son of Chapter Seven that won six of 12 starts as a freshman and captured a division of the Bluegrass at The Red Mile last fall. Justice landed the pole position in the field of 11.

Slay, a horse Joe Bongiorno drove to a major victory in last year's Canadian Trotting Classic, picks up Brian Sears in Friday's Graduate having landed post three. The Tony Alagna-trained stallion has been fourth and third in two starts this year.

Trainer Megan Scran took charge of the training of Looks Like Moni following his fourth-place finish in the Graduate at Woodbine Mohawk Park on June 3, and the well-bred Muscle Hill-sired gelding romped to a 1:54 2/5 victory at the Meadowlands in a qualifying mile on June 10. Looks Like Moni landed post 10 in the field.

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Two $50,000 divisions of the Graduate for 4-year-old pacers support the solid Friday program at the Meadowlands, with the first division going as race seven and the second as race nine. Bongiorno is hoping for improvement from Night Hawk (post two), a horse he'll drive in the second division.

"I thought it was a wide-open group," said Bongiorno as to why the stable entered the son of Betting Line despite some recent disappointing efforts at Yonkers. "We're hoping he can turn it around."

Night Hawk earned over $352K last year as a sophomore, and that probably put him in under-achiever status given pre-stakes hype surrounding the speedster. This year he's had trouble maintaining his speed through the final quarter in miles over the half and five-eighths tracks. Perhaps a change in scenery will make a difference on Friday.

Joining Night Hawk in the second Graduate division is first-leg winner Dreamfair Arnie B (post three), as well as Juravinski champion Fourever Boy (post six).

Captain Cowboy (post one) was a surprise 22-1 winner in the Graduate first leg on June 3 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and looks for his third straight win on Friday for trainer Ron Burke.

Energetic Hanover (post eight) was just caught by Captain Cowboy after cutting the pace in the first Graduate leg and hopes to bounce back for trainer Tony Alagna with Scott Zeron in the bike.

I Did It Myway recently captured the Kentucky Sire Stakes final at Oak Grove and then raced against older company in a fourth-place finish last Saturday (June 10) in the Battle of Lake Erie at Northfield Park. I Did It Myway drew post four in the first $50,000 division, returning to race against 4-year-olds exclusively as the logical choice.

Trainer Travis Alexander's Pleaseletmeknow has had to deal with some tough trips in recent weeks but has held his ground well in defeat. The son of American Ideal hopes to regain the winning form he saw as a sophomore when he captured nine of 17 starts. Joe Bongiorno gets the call on him for the first time from post five.

Mad Max Hanover (post nine) was a solid second behind Beach Glass in last year's Meadowlands Pace from the same post he drew for Friday's contest. The altered son of Always B Miki returns to regular driver Tim Tetrick for Friday's clash.

There are 14 races on the Meadowlands Friday evening program with first post listed for 6:20 p.m.