Facing the toughest task of his career on Friday night in The Meadowlands' $30,000 Free-For-All Handicap Trot, Sweet Justice not only passed the test, he aced it.
Winning wasn’t good enough for the four-year-old son of Justice Hall, he had to do it in a flashy 1:51.1, just one second off the all-age world record on a mile track, on a night where temperatures were in the single digits.
The $25,000 Harrisburg purchase is now undefeated in five starts since the sale, nearly doubling his sales price with $46,000 in earnings in those five starts.
Proven at the toughest level he will face this winter, it is time to consider just how far Sweet Justice can go in the 2014 Free-For-All trotting division.
Sweet Justice is owned by M & M Harness Racing L.L.C. and trained by Bruce Saunders. John Campbell was in the sulky for the winning drive.
On one of the coldest nights in recent memory at The Meadowlands, driver Yannick Gingras was on-fire from the word go.
The 'Green Hornet' came out of the gate running, sweeping the first three races on the program. By night’s end, he added three more wins for a total of six on the 13-dash card.
The six wins brought Gingras' win total to 30 as he has opened up a 13-win lead on both Dave Miller and Corey Callahan in the young meet. Gingras is winning at a 23 per cent clip to start the meet.
Four of the six wins for Gingras came teamed up with trainer Ron Burke.
Despite a snow storm that dumped nearly one foot of snow in parts of the metropolitan area and temperatures approaching zero-degrees, The Meadowlands showed a slight increase in handle. The $2,908,156 wagered on the Friday card was a three per cent increase over the same Friday in 2013, which is significant because that card in 2013 yielded a 31 per cent increase over 2012.
Racing resumes Saturday with first post time at 7:15 p.m. After a late opening Friday, both The Meadowlands and Winners Bayonne will be open for full day and night simulcasting on Saturday, with doors opening at both properties at 11 a.m.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)