It was September of 1976 when The Meadowlands opened, and it was then that the sport of harness racing changed forever.

Now just 31 months away from celebrating a half-century as one of the top tracks in the sport, the mile oval continues to deliver racing that sports a competitive style – featuring full 10-horse fields – that these days has handle at a level not seen at any harness track in recent memory.

“All the talk about whether sports bettors and Thoroughbred bettors could be converted to Standardbred players at The Big M have been answered,” said Jason Settlemoir, Meadowlands Racetrack's Chief Operating Officer and General Manager. “With football season now over, all you need to look at is the handle on Saturday nights since the NFL concluded playing on Saturdays on Jan. 20. The four Saturdays without pro football have seen wagering total over $14 million [USD] on our races.”

The Meadowlands has reported a breakdown of its all-source total handle for Saturdays in 2024 below:

• Jan. 27: $3,779,096 USD
• Feb. 3: $3,631,898 USD
• Feb. 10: $3,456,865 USD
• Feb. 17: $3,505,227 USD
• Total: $14,373,086 USD
• Average per card: $3,593,271 USD
• Average per race: $256,662 USD

“The Meadowlands’ large fields have been enticing horseplayers around the world to play our product,” said Settlemoir. “Field size has averaged 9.26 horses per race during 2024. There are only two Thoroughbred tracks in the country that have an average field size of over nine horses, Oaklawn (9.61) and Turfway Park (9.37). This weekend, Feb. 23-24, 268 horses are scheduled to compete at The Big M over the course of the two 14-race programs, an average of 9.57 per race.”

The large average field size creates big pools that lead to player-pleasing payouts much of the time.

Last week at The Big M was no exception.

On Saturday, Feb. 17. there were three multi-leg pools that exceeded $100,000: the 20-cent Pick-6 ($107,714), Early 50-cent Pick 4 ($102,001) and Late 50-cent Pick-4 ($110,086). Those wagers are three of the eight multi-leg bets at The Big M that offer a low 15 per cent takeout.

Some of Saturday’s superb scores were enjoyed by those who had winning 20-cent Pick-8 ($32,635) and 20-cent Survivor Pick-7 ($12,639) tickets. The Pick-8 was hit for the first time in eight programs after starting the night with a carryover of almost $20,000.

On Friday, Feb. 16, the big hits came in the Early ($5,014) and Late Pick-4 ($5,277).

Past performances for every race of every Meadowlands program are available free of charge by going to playmeadowlands.com. The Meadowlands' "Racing from The Meadowlands" pre-game show will start at 5:45 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday, before the live program begins at 6:20 p.m.

(With files from The Meadowlands)