Sacco saddles four on card
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Greg Sacco will be a busy trainer Tuesday afternoon with four horses entered at the Meadowlands Racetrack.
The Big M will add a second 10-cent superfecta to the betting menu on Tuesday. The dime bet with a 15 percent takeout debuted in New Jersey at the start of the meet on the last race of each card and will now be offered on the fourth and last races on each program.
Sacco has 3-year-old fillies in both superfecta races, starting with Forever Grateful in the fourth, a $36,000 first-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.
Forever Grateful debuted last year for trainer James Chapman in a turf stakes at Calder, finishing seventh in a 12-horse field. She joined the Sacco barn this season and was winless in three starts before winning her maiden at Monmouth Park last time out in her return to the turf.
"In the back of my mind, I was looking to get her back on the grass," Sacco said. "She ran better than we expected. We figured she would handle the grass, but we didn't know how she would handle the stretch-out to two turns. She passed that with flying colors."
Here comes a tougher test as Forever Grateful faces winners for the first time.
"We'll see what she's made of, and after this race, we'll probably send her to my brother Rick in Ocala," Sacco said. "We'll look to freshen her up a little bit and we'll run her at Tampa."
In the ninth and final race, American Model takes a steep class drop for her second start after finishing ninth in her debut against New Jersey-bred maiden special weights. On Tuesday, she faces statebred maidens going six furlongs for a $10,000 claiming tag.
"We ran her for experience and she was a little startled leaving the gate," Sacco said. "This is where she belongs, and she should perform much better."
Capital Crime, Sacco's runner in the seventh race, is a 4-year-old gelding in a $38,000 second-level allowance at six furlongs. On the mend from quarter cracks that laid him up for two months this summer, Capital Crime seems headed in the right direction following a solid second in the slop at Philadelphia Park.
Sacco's entrant Exit Left in the eighth race is unbeaten in two starts since switching to turf.