Benefitting from a typical early-speed drive from Joe Bongiorno, Djimon crushed eight overmatched foes in the Friday, Nov. 13 feature at The Meadowlands, a high-end conditioned event for trotters that went for a purse of $21,127.

Trained and driven by Bongiorno, the six-year-old gelded son of Tactical Landing-Sheenas Shadow scorched the mile oval from the start, grabbing the lead midway around the first turn before reaching the quarter in a sharp :27.3. 

The speed show continued down the backside. Djimon reached the half in :54.4 as 1-5 favourite Monserrate (Tyler Miller) was racing second-over behind a tired Glutes Hanover (Anibal Borjas). Bongiorno continued with his foot down on the pedal as Djimon opened up 4-1/2 lengths on the field at three-quarters in 1:22.4 before a :28.2 kicker completed a dazzling 1:51.1 career-best mile over the "good" track. Monserrate finished 8-1/4 lengths back in second with Pierre In Paris (William Carter) third.

“I’ve probably changed this horse’s shoes 10 times since I’ve had him,” said Bongiorno. “And I finally got the right shoeing on him where he’s not hitting his right hind any more.

“When this horse trots, he has a wicked turn of foot. He does it very easily and he doesn’t seem like he gets tired. Once I made the front, I wasn’t going to let anybody go. He can carry his speed a long way. I liked this horse since day one.”

Owned by El Dorado Stables of Ft. Myers, Florida, Djimon upped his lifetime stats to 22 wins from 93 starts, good for earnings of $490,112. 

He paid $8 as the 3-1 second choice.

Bongiorno also won with Hutt Racing Stable's multiple Prospect Series-winning sophomore pacing filly Amazing Addy, who paced a career-best 1:52 mile in her American debut.

Bongiorno and Veronica Spicer topped the trainers on Friday's card with a pair of victories each. Bradley Chisholm and Brett Beckwith led the driver colony with three wins apiece.

One of Beckwith's victories was in the $28,169 top conditioned pace on the card with Tom Cancelliere trainee Doctor Arroganto, a four-year-old Papi Rob Hanover-Brazuca gelding who dropped his lifetime mark to 1:52 flat in his first win this year for owner/breeder John Cancelliere.

All-source handle on the 14-race program totalled $2,049,106 USD.

Racing resumes on Saturday at 6:20 p.m. with the last major night of stakes action on the Meadowlands 2026 calendar as Fall Four/FanDuel Championship Night will offer eight races with purses totalling just over $2.2 million USD.

(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)