Ontario Sires Stakes graduate Backstreet Shadow is really starting to blossom as an older horse, kicking off the 2019 Hambletonian Day card with an extremely impressive lifetime best mile in a $40,000 Four-Year-Old Open.

Bet down to 1-9, Backstreet Shadow and driver Tim Tetrick settled away in third early as Wheels On Fire (Yannick Gingras) showed extreme early speed to open the race with a :26.4 first quarter. Tetrick right-lined Backstreet Shadow through that opening panel and landed on the lead with relative ease. The first half was reached in :54.4 with second choice Courtly Choice (David Miller) flushed out from fourth to start the first-over attack. By the 1:21.4 third station it was clear that Courtly Choice was not on his game, and that Backstreet Shadow was at his best. With a motionless Tetrick in the sulky, Backstreet Shadow motored home in :26.4 to trip the timer some three lengths to the good in 1:47.3. Mach N Cheese (Simon Allard) skimmed the pylons to finish second over Wheels On Fire.

A private purchase less than a month ago by Burke Racing Stable LLC of Fredericktown, Penn., Weaver Bruscemi LLC of Canonsburg, Penn. Larry Karr of Randolph, N.J. and JandT Silva Purnel & Libby of Delray Beach, Fl., Backstreet Shadow is now three-for-three for trainer Ron Burke, who has already clinched his eighth straight Meadowlands' trainers title. The win was the 15th lifetime for Backstreet Shadow, who pushed his earnings over the $400,000 mark with the victory.

Stay up-to-date with all the happenings from 2019 Hambletonian Day at The Meadowlands in the 2019 Hambletonian Day News Centre