Trainer Kyle Spagnola sent three trotters to the gate on Friday night at The Meadowlands and all three found the winner’s circle.
Two of the wins came with Andrew McCarthy in the bike. The first, Ulster romped by a dozen lengths in the third race condition trot, winning in a lifetime-best 1:53.1, while Keystone Thomas was a wire-to-wire winner in 1:54.3 in the fifth race condition trot.
Spagnola wasn’t done, as he sent out the prohibitive 3-5 choice in the $17,000 featured trot in the eighth race and the favourite did not disappoint. After brushing to the lead, past fractions of :27.2 and :56.1, Waiting On A Woman and driver Corey Callahan took on the challenge of Lady Windsor around the far turn. But when the favourite reached three-quarters in 1:25, it was clear that he had plenty left in the tank and the seven-year-old gelding powered away with a :27.3 final quarter to win going away by just over three lengths in 1:52.3. The final time was just one-fifth of a second off his lifetime mark.
Spagnola now sports a record of five wins from his first seven starts at the 2015-2016 Meadowlands meet.
The win was the 50th in the career of Waiting On Woman. The P.E.I.-bred son of Northern Bailey now has career earnings of over $374,000.
Waiting On A Woman is owned by Michael Polansky.
The win was one of three races won by Callahan through the first eight races.
The seventh race $15,000 condition mare pacing event was a filled choc-full of mares with stakes experience. Radar Contact was a strong 3-5 favourite, but on paper there was competition in the form of Jerseylicious and it played out that way on the racetrack as well.
Radar Contact was quarter-moved to the lead by John Campbell past the first point of call in 27-seconds and she held that lead into the stretch, through fractions of :55.1 and 1:24. Meanwhile, Jerseylicious was sitting mid-pack and committed first over down the backstretch as Radar Contact blazed the way. As the field approached the stretch, Jerseylicious had room to tuck behind the favourite and did so until the middle of the stretch, when Callahan showed his mare racetrack again and she responded to that move by accelerating late, chasing down the favourite to win in 1:51.2.
For Jerseylicious, the win marked the 15th victory in her 62-race career and sent her earnings to nearly $638,000. She is trained by Wayne Givens for owners Legacy Racing of Delaware Incorporated, Pamela Curran and Niel Gargiulo.
The stakes season may have come to an end, but Jimmy Takter is still winning promising races with young trotters. In the first race on Friday night at The Meadowlands, the Jimmy Takter-trained Massive Clout (sired by Muscle Massive), parlayed a pocket trip into a pylon-skimming win by the narrowest margins over Moulin Rouge, who defeated this condition one week ago.
Massive Clout and Callahan sat comfortable in the pocket behind pacesetter Barnaby Rudge through fractions of :29.3, :59.1 and 1:29.1. Meanwhile, the even-money favourite, Moulin Rouge, was tracking in a live outer flow and loomed boldly three-wide off the far turn and appeared poised to blow by, but Massive Clout found room at the pylons and was full of trot as well. The pair of trotters raced down to the wire together, with Massive Clout escaping with a nose-victory in a mild upset at odds of 5-1. Moulin Rouge was second with Barnaby Rudge third. In the field of 10 trotters, there were three two-year-olds and they ironically comprised the trifecta.
Massive Clout is a homebred for Brixton Medical, who co-owns the colt with Christina Takter.
The winning time of 1:57.2 was a lifetime-best performance and was the second consecutive win for the son of Hambletonian winner Muscle Massive who now has two wins from three starts.
Robert Krivelin’s name has been one of the most popular among amateur drivers for years and that name reigned supreme again with an 8-1 upset in the GSY Amateur Trot with Chocolate Xplosion. Krivelin, who also trains the four-year-old gelded son of Chocolatier, turned a pocket trip into a 1:56.3 victory, a lifetime-best performance for Chocolate Xplosion. Crazed N Lindy rallied from well-back for Peter Kleinhans to be second with Jacks Reef and Hannah Miller third.
The win was the 184th amateur driving victory in the career of Krivelin, with earnings over $1.2 million.
Total handle for the 13-race Friday card was $2,642,922, a seven percent increase over this same Friday last year. On-track handle also showed slight gains. The guaranteed pools performed well on Friday, with the Pick 5 totalling $44,233, the early Pick 4 handling $47,983 and the late Pick 4 reaching $78,955. Both Jackpot Super High 5 carryovers continued to grow as the fifth race now stands at $17,625.09 and the last race now at $18,381.34.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)