Ivan Llopez led all trainers for wins at The Meadowlands on Friday, March 13, sending out three successful starters during the evening's 14-race card.

Llopez's first two Friday winners were with a pair of Canadian-breds driven by Tony Beltrami in the evening's first two Meadowlands Amateur Driving Club (MADC) races. Ten-year-old gelding Jonah ($9.80) opened the card by taking a $15,753 MADC pace by half a length, with Beltrami working out a winning overland trip in 1:55.3 for the 7-2 favourite. In the next MADC event in race three, seven-year-old pacing gelding Hashtag Money ($6.40) held on by a nose in 1:53.3 to deliver on his 2-1 pari-mutuel promise. 

Llopez later drove his stable's third winner, Catch Some Sun ($12.80), another Canadian-bred who prevailed by a half-length over the even-money favourite in a $10,959 fillies and mares Trackmaster pace to close out the card full of close finishes (the winning margin was half a length or less in nine of the 14 races.).

The New Jersey-based horseman, who earned his first training triple on a race card back on Sept. 7, 2024 at Freehold Raceway, has won a total of 291 races lifetime. 

Mark Herschberger and Joe Bongiorno tied atop the driver leaderboard with three winners each on Friday. Herschberger teamed up with the Nik Drennan-trained four-year-old pacing mare Youllfindout ($16.80) to win by a neck in 1:52.2 in the fastest mile of the night in the $19,863 top class carded, a fillies and mares conditioned pace, in addition to partnering with a pair of victorious Jody Dunning trainees, including former Atlantic Breeders Crown champion Woodmere Leah ($7), who earned her first Meadowlands win in 1:57 in her eight-year-old season's debut after Llopez qualified the mare.

The $1 Pick 8 went unhit for an eighth consecutive offering, upping the carryover to $87,062 for Saturday night. Winners' odds for the sequence were 2-1, 3-5, 8-5, 3-1, 2-1, 1-5, 9-2 and 5-2. Those with six correct collected $207.40.

A double carryover of $20,356 enticed punters to pour $67,745 of “new money” into the 20-cent Pick-6 pool, and after a sequence with winners' odds of 1-5, 9-2, 5-2, 5-2, 7-1 and 23-1, those with winning tickets cashed in for $25,979.54.

All-source wagering on the 14-race program totalled $2,283,590 USD.

Live harness racing at The Meadowlands resumes on Saturday at 6 p.m.

(Standardbred Canada with files from Meadowlands Racetrack)