The Horse and Groom Series got underway Friday night at the Meadowlands Racetrack with two $18,000 divisions headlining the 13-race card.
In the first division, it was a budding star trained by Ron Burke, DWs NY Yank ($4.80), who moved to the lead down the backstretch with Yannick Gingras and never looked back scoring in a sharp 1:54.1 victory. The win made it five in a row for Howard Taylor's four-year-old gelded son of Dilbert Hanover. Volare De Vie and slight favourite Enrico As finished second and third.
The second division was not as kind to Burke and Gingras as favoured Quick Deal never made the gate, going offstride prior to the start. That allowed Modern Family ($4.60) to roll to an easy win in 1:54.1 for the team of Tim Tetrick and Daryl Bier, trotting a final quarter in :26.4. Quick Deal did a good job of getting back into the race, but tired in the stretch and managed only to be fourth. Not Afraid and Westside Lindy were second and third. The four-year-old son of Cantab Hall, who is now four-for-four this year, is owned by Bier, Charles Dombeck, and Richard Poillucci.
In the $30,000 Free For All Handicap Trot, Sevruga ($3.40) dug in gamely to hold off Ice Machine by a nose in a sharp 1:53.2 score for the husband and wife team of Andy and Julie Miller. Sevruga, a five-year-old gelded son of SJs Caviar owned by Kdm Stables Corp., is one of 36 trotters nominated to the Free For All Championship Series.
The betting windows showed significant gains once again. The $3,244,485 wagered on Friday was the largest Friday handle of the season and marked an increase of $858,394 from the same Friday in 2012 (or 36 per cent). On track handle was also up 11 per cent.
Racing returns with a big 13-race card on Saturday featuring the Junior Trendsetter Final and the first round of the Aquarius Series. Post time is 7:15 p.m.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Meadowlands Racetrack.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)