Trolley continued his reign as the trotting “King of the Meadowlands” by winning a third straight Preferred Handicap at the Big M on Friday night (February 8).

The red-hot six-year-old son of Donato Hanover-Lakeside Bride, who benefited from great driver Marcus Miller handling, won his fourth feature in his last five tries and sixth race in his last seven overall.

Sent off as the 2-5 public choice, Miller had Trolley on the go from the start but was pushed wide into the first turn. Miller opted to settle his horse into the five-hole instead of going on with it, and that may have made the difference. Misslarose, up in the Preferred ranks off consecutive wins with high-class conditioned foes, moved past early leader Derf Hanover after the quarter and hit the half in :57.

Cash Me Out was racing first-over at the half, providing a perfect second-over trip for Trolley, who stayed with that cover into the stretch before tipping with a little more than an eighth of a mile to go. The Erv Miller trainee needed every inch of the stretch to get past a stubborn Misslarose, but he collared the leader nearing the wire, before going on to a half-length win in 1:55.1 on an extremely windy East Rutherford night. Cash Me Out finished third.

Trolley returned $2.80 to his backers while staying perfect in three starts this year. Overall, he’s won half of his 28 lifetime outings and earned $323,951 for owners Michael Anderson, Leland Mathias, Greg Gillis and Louis Willinger.

GINGRAS STAYS HOT: Driver Yannick Gingras continued his winning ways, scoring five times on the program. After 13 winner’s circle visits last weekend (February 1-2), ‘The Green Hornet’ has now won 18 of his last 38 Meadowlands' drives.

A LITTLE MORE: Wagering stayed strong at the industry’s handle leader as all-source action totaled $2,927,806 on the 13-race card. The last four Big M cards have seen the top four handles this year, topped by last Saturday’s $3.1 million. … One shrewd simulcast player wagering into the Fairmount hub used 35-1 shot Buckeye In Charge on top in the 13th race, and in the process, raked the late 20-cent Jackpot Super High-Five pot to the tune of $23,467.26. The winning combination was 7-4-3-2-8. … Racing resumes Saturday at 7:15 p.m.

(Meadowlands Racetrack)