The final Thursday card of the season began with heavy hearts as the Meadowlands paid tribute to its Hall of Fame announcer Sam McKee, who passed away Wednesday following complications from a stroke.
A touching tribute video was played and the first race of the night was raced in silence.
Joe Bongiorno won three of the first five races on the nine-race program including minor upsets with Man Of Muscle and Keystone I Wish in a division of the Dash for the G-Notes series.
Brett Miller won a pair of races including the night’s featured trot with O U Sexy Guy. O U Sexy Guy won for the 19th time in his career for trainer Jack Franklin.
The final broadcast of “Meadowlands Harness Live” on SNY featured Nancy Johansson, trainer of 2014 Horse of the Year JK Shesalady, as a special co-host.
One lucky horseplayer took down the Race 5 Jackpot Super High Five wager at the Meadowlands for $53,588.82.
The winning ticket was purchased through the Ontario Hub.
The 20-cent wager requires a horseplayer to correctly select the top five finishers in order. The jackpot amount pays out only if there is a single winning ticket.
Live racing continues Friday with an 11-race program. Post time is 7:15 p.m.
(Meadowlands)