The lightly raced Tom Cancelliere-trained Sonofanutcracker put his high speed on display to take the Saturday, Oct. 24 feature at The Meadowlands, a $21,127 event for high-end conditioned pacers.

Departing from the rail in a short five-horse field (there was one scratch), driver Braxten Boyd didn’t have to push the three-year-old by Nutcracker Sweet-Rob Them Blind very much, cruising past the quarter in :28 and the half in :55.2 on the lead. American Son (Patrick Ryder), the 5-2 second choice, made his way into contention after popping out of the three-hole after the half and was up to challenge Sonofanutcracker at three-quarters in 1:22.3.

But this was Sonofanutcracker’s night. After shrugging off American Son, the John Cancelliere-owned colt sprinted his final quarter in :26.4 on the way to a lifetime-best 1:49.2 clocking. The margin was three-quarters of a length back to second-place finisher Its In The Stars (Jonathan Ahle) with Resilient N (Brad Chisholm) third.

“The way he left the gate, I was very pleased with that,” said Boyd. “Nobody was coming at us. When (American Son) came to us, my horse swelled right up. I had a pretty good feeling we were going to be home free once we straightened up.”

Sonofanutcracker now has eight victories from 20 lifetime starts, good for earnings of $298,490. He returned $3.20 to his backers as the 3-5 favourite.

Brett Beckwith had three winners on the night to lead the driver colony. The 23-year-old pilot now has 133 Big M victories in 2026 and is well in front of the field as he seeks a second straight Meadowlands yearly driving title. 

On Friday, Oct. 30, the action figures to be fast and furious as three carryovers will be offered to tempt punters' palates. The first race will have a carryover of $8,417 on the 10-cent Hi-5 (Pentafecta) after the combination of 5-8-7-1-4 failed to yield a winning ticket. The Friday opener will offer a second carryover as the Early 20-cent Pick-5 also failed to end up with someone cashing in. Those with four correct selections collected $1,741 for a one-dollar ticket. The Pick-5 carryover will be $20,891. The third carryover of the night will come in the third race, when the 20-cent Pick-6 starts out with $2,655 in the hat. Those with four correct collected $35.22. The key to the carryovers in the Pick-5 and Pick-6 came in the fourth race, when Yogi Sheridan guided Seeuinnashville A to the winner’s circle at odds of 84-1.

All-source handle on the 14-race card totalled $1,914,155 USD. Racing resumes Friday at 6:20 p.m.

(Meadowlands Racetrack)