Montalbano Bi got little respect when he won at almost 20-1 on March 9, so Friday night at the Meadowlands, the seven-year-old gelded son of Donato Hanover was out to show that win was no fluke.
And that’s just what he did.
Montalbano Bi, sent off at 9-2, got away third at the quarter before brushing up to the lead at the three-eighths in the Big M’s feature, a $16,000 high-level conditioned event for trotters. Zooming, also 9-2 on the toteboard, came calling at three-quarters as Scirocco Jakob swung three-wide for the drive. Fashion Creditor, the 4-5 public choice, was in a dull flow heading to three-quarters but was coming fast and furious through the stretch.
At the wire, it was Montalbano Bi prevailing by a neck in 1:54.4 over the fast-closing Fashion Creditor. P L Icabod was third.
The winner, who was claimed out of the race for $30,000 by Ron Burke, returned $11.20 to his backers. He was driven by the Big M’s leading driver, Jim Marohn Jr., and trained by Patti Harmon for owner Joel Kahan. Montalbano Bi has won four of his last nine and 14 of 90 lifetime, good for earnings of $137,406.
A LITTLE MORE: Marohn, Anthony Napolitano, Andrew McCarthy and Eric Carlson all recorded driving doubles on the card. … Harmon and Rick Dane each trained a pair to victory lane. … The Late Jackpot Super High Five carryover has moved past ridiculous and is now approaching insane. When last night’s combination of 6-5-3-8-4 failed to result in a single-ticket winner, the carryover inched ever closer to the $150,000 mark, at $143,675. Those who did have the right combination did pretty well for themselves, cashing in $4,398 for a 20-cent bet. … All-source wagering on the card totalled $2,052,329. … Racing resumes Saturday at 6:35 p.m. Post time switches to 7:15 p.m. beginning March 23.
(Meadowlands Racetrack)