New Jersey champion Sonofanutcracker benefitted from an expert steer from a driver with plenty on his resume to take the featured $20,423 high-end conditioned pace at The Meadowlands on Saturday, Oct. 18.
Veteran driver Daniel Dube recently recorded his 10,000th career victory when he won with Crown Monarch on Friday night at Yonkers Raceway, and he upped that total to 10,001 after guiding Sonofanutcracker to victory lane in a lifetime-best 1:51. It was the first time Dube and Sonofanutcracker teamed up.
Big Ego (Mark Herschberger) was away quickly from post eight in the 10-horse field and put some pace in the race, hitting the quarter in :26.2 and the half in :53.3. Dube moved Sonofanutcracker out of the four-hole after the half, and the rookie colt raced on the rim uncovered to pass the tiring leader while reaching three-quarters in 1:23. The eventual winner now had good momentum for the stretch drive, so late rallies from Corvette Stingray (Lauren Tritton) and Bookie J (Brett Beckwith), who finished second and third, respectively, came up short as Sonofanutcracker registered his third victory from six starts by 1-1/2 lengths.
“They were going pretty fast,” said Dube. “After that :53[.3] half, I came to them, and he swelled up and won easily. For a two-year-old, [1]:51 is very good. [Through the stretch] when I asked him to do the work, he did it, and it was perfect.”
The winning son of Nutcracker Sweet-Rob Them Blind is a homebred for John Cancelliere. Tom Cancelliere trains the colt, who now has lifetime earnings of $193,824. Sonofanutcracker returned $4 to his backers.
Later on the card, 23-year-old Western Australia native Kyle Symington earned his first win in North America when he clicked with Stay Grounded ($14.40) in the 14th race for trainer Noel Daley. He sent the gelding first-up out of fourth on the last turn, and Stay Grounded battled past favoured pacesetter Lite N Sweet (Beckwith) to win by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:50.2.
Symington got his first North American win in his sixth start on the continent, which came as his Big M debut. He racked up 332 wins in his native land, including a Group 1 with Miss Limelight in the Westral Mares Classic. He is now 6-1-1-0 in North America.
A carryover of $3,813 motivated players to pump $11,472 of new money into the 20-cent Pick-6 pool, but a sequence that contained no winning favourites created a double carryover of $11,126 for Friday night’s card. Those who had four correct on Saturday cashed in for $270.88.
There were a couple of smiling faces at the conclusion of the 50-cent Late Pick-4, as a sequence that had winners go off at odds of 11-1, 5-1, 19-1, and 10-1 produced a glamorous payoff of $24,334.35.
Braxten Boyd led the driver colony with three winners on the card.
All-source handle on the 15-race program totalled $2,422,415. Racing resumes on Friday at 6:20 p.m.
(With files from The Meadowlands; photo of Sonofanutcracker from a previous win)