He hadn’t raced at The Meadowlands since November 2023 in the Kindergarten Series final, but Copperfield had little trouble re-acclimating to the mile oval on Saturday, March 14, putting up a powerhouse performance in the featured $34,247 TrackMaster 90 on the pace.

Since going off stride and finishing 10th in his last parimutuel try at The Big M, the five-year-old gelded son of Betting Line-American Charm has qualified just twice at the East Rutherford, N.J track, but the most recent was a sparkling 1:51 win on March 7 that featured a final quarter of :25.2.

“He looked like he qualified really well,” said winning driver Brett Beckwith, who watched the mile on his phone. “I was pretty confident with mine going into the race, especially off that qualifier.”

The early going featured the usual scrum for position as Wish You Well (Braxten Boyd, post four), World Of Wishes (Patrick Ryder, post five), Copperfield (post six) and Joemikiyoursofine (Colin Kelly, post 10) all used some early gas into the first turn in the 10-horse field.

World Of Wishes, who was so impressive winning his seasonal debut last week in a lifetime-best 1:49.2, had the lead at the quarter in :27.4, but soon thereafter, Copperfield, a Per Engblom trainee, forged to the front at the three-eighths before reaching the half in :55.2.

Rydingtothewire (Lauren Tritton), a 40-1 outsider, was now motoring up on the rim to go after the leader and was at Copperfield’s throat as three-quarters was timed in 1:23.4. As the field straightened up with 3/16ths to the finish, Rydingtothewire started to weaken, but not quite enough to allow 2-1 second choice World Of Wishes the space necessary to vacate the pocket and come after the leader. In deep-stretch, Wish You Well ducked to the inside and outpaced World Of Wishes in the race for place as Copperfield recorded a convincing 1-1/2-length score in 1:50.4.

“I followed Patrick (Ryder) to the lead and my horse out-sprinted them,” said Beckwith. “He’s a really nice horse and is handy for a pretty big horse. He’s big, he’s strong, and he’s versatile. I imagine he’s even better off a helmet.”

Sent to the gate as the even-money favourite, Copperfield paid $4 after registering his 12th career win in 61 tries. He now has earnings totaling $455,267 for owner W.J. Donovan.

Joe Bongiorno led the driver colony with three victories on the 14-race card. He finished the weekend with a half-dozen winner’s circle visits. Bongiorno also led the trainers with a pair of walks down victory lane.

The $1 PK 8 went unhit for a ninth consecutive offering, upping the carryover to $94,833 for Friday night. Winners' odds for the sequence were 18-1, 4-1, 8-1, 4-1, 4-1, 7-2, 2-5 and 1-1. Those with six correct collected $1,497.30. The $1 PK 8 is offered nightly on races three through 10. 

All-source handle on the program totalled $2,649,709. Racing resumes Friday at 6 p.m.

(Meadowlands Racetrack)