About two months ago, the Jeff Cullipher-trained Endeavor pulled an 11-1 upset in the Nov. 10, $100,000 Potomac Invitational Pace at Maryland’s Rosecroft Raceway, defeating some tough customers such as Dealt A Winner, American History, Dorsoduro Hanover and Courtly Choice.
After that, he failed to hit the wire first in his next four outings, but Saturday night (Jan. 4) at the Meadowlands, the seven-year-old gelded son of American Ideal-Jett Diamond found his way back to the winner’s circle, taking the $25,000 featured high-range conditioned pace in 1:50.3 over a track rated "good" with a minus one variant.
On a night when a majority of the races saw winners on the lead or close to it, driver Jim Marohn Jr. moved Endeavor out of the three-hole after the quarter and moved to the top before the half, stopping the clock at that station in :55.1.
Endeavor continued to move well over the soggy track, hitting three-quarters in 1:22.4 while clear of the pocket-sitting Shoreview and first-over American Boy N. Through the stretch, Endeavor drew clear of those foes, hitting the wire one-and-three-quarter lengths in front of fast-closing 6-5 favourite Franco Totem N. Keystone Phoenix closed ground late for third.
As the 8-5 second choice, Endeavor returned $5.40 to his backers and has now won 32 of 110 starts, good for earnings of $673,937 for owners Pollack Racing and Jeff Cullipher.
“I was very confident in him coming into tonight,” said Cullipher. “After the Potomac, right before the TVG, he popped a quarter crack. It was somewhat minor but it put a damper on things because I had him really good. It’s completely healed now.”
Is Endeavor good enough to take on the older male pacing division’s best during 2020? “He may not go in every single one of those races,” said Cullipher. “But we’ll take our chances in some of them.”
REPLAYS ON TVG: To see the replays of the Thursday, Friday and Saturday races, tune in to TVG at 10 a.m. Monday morning.
A LITTLE MORE: Fall Meeting leading driver Dexter Dunn, recently named the United States Harness Writers Association’s Driver of the Year, was up to his old tricks, visiting the winner’s circle five times on the program. Joe Bongiorno had a driving triple, Ron Burke a training double.
Wagering was strong in the track’s two popular multi-leg puzzles. A total of $63,798 was poured into the 50-cent Pick-5 pool while $94,701 was pushed through the windows in the 50-cent Pick-4.
The Late 20-cent Jackpot Super High-Five failed to result in a single-ticket winner, bloating the carryover to $94,800.
All-source wagering on the 14-race card was $2,744,633.
Racing resumes Friday (Jan. 10) at 7:15 p.m.
(Meadowlands Racetrack)