Kicking off cover from second over, Ready For Moni ripped to the lead late and won the fastest of two $142,250 divisions of the Stanley Dancer Memorial, scoring in his sophomore debut with a 1:51.4 mile.

Gangster Hanover set the tempo through early splits of :27 and :55.4. Chestnut Hill then charged first over heading to the far turn, carrying Ready For Moni into contention second over. Gangster Hanover clung to command past three-quarters in 1:24.1 and soon gave way turning for the finish.

Chestnut Hill took a narrow lead but stalled as driver Yannick Gingras uncorked Ready For Moni. The son of Ready Cash slid to the lead entering the final eighth as Beads weaved out of the pocket and Hollywood Story rallied widest on the track. Ready For Moni maintained command as Hollywood Story took second from Beads, while Nylander came from third over for fourth.

Winning his fifth race from nine starts, Ready For Moni has earned $352,575 for owners John Fielding, Lindy Farms Of Connecticut, Herb Liverman and Bud Hatfield. The Nancy Takter trainee paid $7.40 to win.

Ake Svanstedt trainee Back Of The Neck cruised off cover under minimal urging to win with a 1:52 mile in the opening division of the Stanley Dancer Memorial.

With freshman star Real Cool Sam going on a gallop into the first turn, Third Shift took command with Big Oil sitting second and Amigo Volo third moving to a :27.2 first quarter. Into the backside Amigo Volo circled from the pocket past Third Shift to take the field past the half in :54.4.

Moving to the final turn, driver Scott Zeron tipped Back Of The Neck first over and grabbed cover as stablemate Third Shift popped pocket approaching three-quarters in 1:23.3.

Third Shift edged past Amigo Volo to lead narrowly in the stretch before Zeron pulled Back Of The Neck to the center of the track and powered past rivals in the final sixteenth to win. Big Oil shot through an opening at the pylons for third while Amigo Volo held fourth.

“He was really handy today; really relaxed,” Zeron said after the race. “He’s progressively getting a little smarter out on that track, and every start is just leading up to the Hambletonian in my eyes. Today was just like a leave, let him sit, see how he feels in a hole. When I moved him over and Ake had pulled the two hole, it was even better. Down the lane he finished strong; he was very well within himself.”

A colt by Ready Cash, Back Of The Neck won his second race from three starts this season and his fifth from 12 overall, earning $207,375 for owners Howard Taylor, Order By Stable and Judith Taylor, who purchased the colt for $150,000 as a yearling.

“[Judith] always says to me ‘You have all these good horses, I never had one.’ And I said ‘Every time I buy a horse for you, I own part of it too. I’m not looking to give you a bad horse.’ But it’s just never worked out that way… now it has,” co-owner Howard Taylor said after the race of his colt now trained by Ake Svanstedt after a two-year-old campaign in Marcus Melander’s barn.

Taylor said on the stable switch “It was more Stefan [Belaszi of Order By Stable] than me. He just felt that Marcus had a lot of horses. Marcus is a great trainer; he did a great job training him down. [Stefan] just felt that Ake would have a little bit more time to spend with this horse and he decided to make the change.”

Back Of The Neck paid $3.60 to win.

The Stanley Dancer Memorial was part of a stakes-packed Saturday card at The Meadowlands. Read about the rest of the action in the Meadowlands Pace News Centre.