The New Jersey Sire Stakes will field three divisions of sophomore trotters to kick off the 2016 state-bred season this Friday night (May 20) at the Meadowlands Racetrack.

The headliner is Southwind Frank, who is the consensus choice for this season’s top trotting stakes, including the August 6 Hambletonian. The son of Muscle Hill has had a pair of conditioning qualifiers in anticipation of his seasonal debut and will start from Post 4 in a 12-horse contest (the $25,000 dash has been carded as Race 6 on the program). Ron Burke trains Southwind Frank for himself as Burke Racing, LLC, Weaver Bruscemi, Our Horse Cents Stable and J&T Silva. Yannick Gingras resumes his position as the champion colt’s driver.

The fillies split into fields of eight in the second race and seven in the fourth, each for a $20,000 purse.

Gingras has the logical favourite in the first division, where he’ll steer Breeders Crown winner All The Time for the Jimmy Takter stable. A winner of nearly a half million dollars at two, All The Time races for owner/breeders Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld.

Wildflower got a late start but finished her freshman year strong with an upset win in the Kindergarten final and a solid fifth-place finish in the Goldsmith Maid. Ake Svanstedt trains and drives the Muscle Hill lass for himself, Douglas Sipple and Mal & Janet Burroughs, LLC.

Friday is Military Appreciation Night at the Meadowlands, where veterans will be recognized for their service.

The standard guarantee on horizontal wagers is in place and the last race Hi-5 Super Jackpot stands at $222,459 to open the weekend.

First-race post time on Friday will be at 7:15 p.m.

(Meadowlands)