His trainer was planning to qualify him again, but decided to stick him in a race to help the race office. Sometimes, a change in plan works out just fine.

That was the case for trainer Kevin McDermott's millionaire trotter, Meladys Monet, who chased down the razor sharp Opulent Yankee to win Friday's featured $18,000 conditioned trot at The Meadowlands.

"I was supposed to qualify him back a second time on Saturday, but they needed a horse to fill this race so we raced him instead," explained McDermott, who trains Meladys Monet for Melady Enterprises. "He really was not tight tonight so I could not be any happier with him and he could be in for a very good year."

Opulent Yankee easily made the front from his outside post six starting position with Meladys Monet comfortably tucking into the pocket spot. The positions remained unchanged up front through easy fractions of :28 and :57 for the opening half-mile. Fellow millionaire DWs NY Yank followed in third as the top two continued through three-quarters in 1:25.3. At the top of the stretch, the top two separated from their other rivals. Brett Miller popped out of the pocket and set his sights on Opulent Yankee. With a final quarter of :28.2, Miller was able to urge Meladys Monet by Opulent Yankee by a neck in 1:54.1.

Meladys Monet won for the 41st time in 136 career starts and pushed his earnings to $1,049,358. He returned $7.40 as the third choice in a field of six. Opulent Yankee was second with Muscle Diamond third.

Trainer Rick Dane Jr. celebrated his 46th birthday with a win in the ninth race with the former Illinois star, Whiskersonkittens.

Brett Miller led all drivers with three wins.

Total handle on the 11-race card was $2,152,678.

A Pick 5 carryover of $38,069 will tempt horseplayers to kick off Saturday's 12-race program. Post time is 7:15 p.m.

(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)