Antognoni S put on a display of power on Friday night (April 10) that must have the rest of the older trotting division extremely concerned, as the Ron Burke trainee overwhelmed his foes in a dazzling seasonal debut while taking the $41,667 first leg of the JL Cruze at The Meadowlands. 

When asked if Antognoni S is the best trotter in the United States, winning driver and co-owner Yannick Gingras said, “I own a piece of this one, so, of course, I would love for that to be true. [2025 Dan Patch Trotter of the Year] Lexus Kody is still the king. He’s the horse to beat, but this horse is really, really fast. We’ll find out if he’s as good as Kody.”

Lexus Kody also resides in the Burke barn, so the defending Dan Patch Trainer of the Year has a pair of older trotting aces in his care. 'Kody' qualifies on Saturday morning at The Big M.

Antognoni S, a six-year-old gelded son of Father Patrick-Bouncing Bax, sat in the three-hole in the early going behind Asteroid (Colin Kelly) and Bestfriend Volo (Joe Bongiorno), who raced one-two to the quarter and half in :27 and :56, respectively. Gingras moved Antognoni S off the rail at the five-eighths, sprinted up to go after the leader as three-quarters was timed in 1:24.1, then, in the blink of an eye, opened up a 2-1/2-length edge at the head of the stretch on the way to a thoroughly dominant 4-1/4-length romp in 1:51.1. Bestfriend Volo finished second with Asteroid third.

“It was kind of the plan for me. I didn’t want to race him too hard,” said Gingras. “I figured I wanted to get away close, then sit for a while. He can go so fast, he’s hard to keep out. I love this horse.”

Antognoni S raised his lifetime earnings to $765,725 after winning for the 23rd time in 45 tries. Gingras co-owns the trotter with Burke Racing Stable of Fredericktown, Pennsylvania, Weaver Bruscemi of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania and Fac Racing of Scarsdale, New York.

Antognoni S paid $2.20 to win as the overwhelming favourite in the 10-horse field.

The series is for winners over $10,500 USD in their last five starts or $50,000 USD life.

One shrewd player betting in Ontario had the lone winning ticket in the $1 Pick 8 and was rewarded with a payoff of $96,088. Before the start of the third race, the carryover of $61,106 motivated punters to pour $9,504 of new money into the pot for a total pool of $70,610. Had the winning wager been placed in the United States, the payout would have been $69,183, but with the conversion to Canadian funds, the payoff was far more impressive looking. Winners' odds for the sequence were 7-2, 9-5, 5-1, 2-1, 2-5, 4-1, 6-5 and 1-9.

The $1 Pick 8, which is available nightly on races three through 10, will be seeded with $50,000 USD once again by the wager’s sponsor, Peter Kleinhans, for Saturday night’s card.

Brett Beckwith was named The Big M’s Driver of the Week on the track’s pre-game simulcast show and has a leg up on taking the trophy again next week after taking four to victory lane. Geovany Hernandez and Burke led the trainers with a pair of victories apiece.

 All-source handle on the 14-race program totalled $2,365,127 USD.

Racing resumes on Saturday at 6:35 p.m.

(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)