Live harness racing at The Meadowlands will be offered just once this week -- on Friday, June 26 -- because of a World Cup soccer match that is taking place at MetLife Stadium on Saturday, June 27.

Post time is the usual 6:35 p.m. and there will be 15 races on the card, including a feature that will be of great interest to those looking forward to the $800,000 USD (est.) Meadowlands Pace, presented by Genova Burns LLC, on July 11.

The 13th race on the program offers a $35,000 USD purse for three-year-old colts and geldings who are non-winners of five races lifetime, but with six of the seven horses eligible to the Meadowlands Pace, it might as well have been written as a three-year-old open.

Of the half-dozen Meadowlands Pace-eligible horses in the field, three are in the weekly "Road to the Meadowlands Pace" Top 10 rankings, and all are looking for an effort to prepare them to race well in the Pace eliminations on Saturday, July 4.

Always B Charlie, who currently ranks eighth in the "Road to the Meadowlands Pace," is a lightly raced son of Always B Miki-My Little Delight who qualified a week ago fourth in 1:52.4 while Fragment was winning in 1:51.1. He’ll depart from post three and is 6-1 on the morning line. The Nancy Takter trainee, who will be driven by Scott Zeron, has won three of four starts this season, including a 1:51.2 score in his last pari-mutuel try at Pocono Downs.

The Besim Odza-trained Azrael Blue Chip (Perfect Sting-Bathsheba), No. 9 in the rankings, had a tough go of it in the North America Cup, finishing 10th after changing to all aluminum shoes. The Cup final was his first non-top three finish this year, so Odza is hoping for a rebound in the Pace after Friday night’s prep.

“I definitely was at fault [in the Cup],” said Odza. “But we are back to normal. He trained great [on Wednesday]. I think he’s at like 90 per cent right now. There are still things I am working on, but right now, he’s right where I want him.”

With Andy McCarthy opting to race at The Meadows in the Currier & Ives, Brett Beckwith will pick up the drive with Azrael Blue Chip, who has post two and is the 3-1 early favourite. 

“Brett’s got a good set of hands, so I think he’ll get along with him.”  

Gentlemans Club, ranked No. 10, hasn’t been seen since a seventh-place finish in his Cup elimination, when the son of Downbytheseaside-See You At Peelers got fired up as favourite Beau Jangles challenged him through demanding fractions, which ended up with Gentlemans Club not making it to the final.

“I think we’ll race him off the pace [on Friday],” said trainer Aaron Lambert. “We don’t want to get him revved up again.” 

Another horse who is driven regularly by McCarthy, Dexter Dunn will take the lines Friday night with the 7-2 chance who leaves from post five.

Four other horses in the "Road to the Meadowlands Pace" Top 10 are racing elsewhere this weekend, including No. 1 pick Odds On Mr Mamba in a leg of the Indiana Sires Stakes at Hoosier Park on Friday, top three selection Beau Jangles in the Ontario Sires Stakes at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday and the fourth and fifth-ranked contenders, Al Papi and Melillo, in the Messenger Stakes at Yonkers Raceway on Friday. To view the complete list, click here. (All earnings are reported in USD).

(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack; photo of Gentlemans Club winning last year at Meadowlands Racetrack)