Not Afraid broke his maiden by open lengths in the $44,500 Charles Singer Memorial final on Friday night at the Meadowlands Racetrack
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With Ron Pierce in tow, Not Afraid went straight to the top and drew off to an easy six and a quarter length tally in 1:56.1. The Jimmy Takter trainee returned $6.40 as he won the fourth race feature for three-year-old trotters. Connie Lauxmont and Racintowardadream were far behind him in second and third, respectively.
“Jimmy [Takter] said he was going to crush them in the final,” Pierce noted. “When I scored him down tonight, I said ‘Whoa, he’s going to be good'.”
Not Afraid made just one start as a freshman before an injury curtailed his season. He returned to action in January and entered the Singer Series off a strong pair of morning qualifiers and a second-place finish in a conditioned race. Not Afraid got caught by Trouble after cutting the mile in the first leg of the Singer and skipped round two due to sickness. He broke his maiden in his fourth career start.
“He fractured his hind ankle [in training] and we had to put screws in,” Takter said. “He came back good, but not as sharp as I hoped in the prelim. We did some things to tighten him up and did more interval training for him to be sharp tonight.”
Christina Takter purchased Not Afraid for $17,000 as a weanling at the 2009 Harrisburg Mixed Sale. Toronto's John Fielding and Sweden's Goran Anderberg later came on board as partners.
A son of SJs Caviar out of the Balanced Image mare Beverly Crusher, Not Afraid is a half-brother to Takter’s Breeders Crown champion In Focus.
Takter indicated he is pointing the gelding toward the Dexter Cup at Freehold Raceway on May 5.
Rocklamation made a bold statement in her four-year-old debut as she rallied from the far outside to win the $40,000 opening round of the Overbid Series for pacing mares.
In a thrilling blanket finish, Rocklamation edged Tea Party Princess and 2011 divisional champion Anndrovette by a half-length in 1:52.3. Scoring from the second tier, Yannick Gingras steered the daughter of Rocknroll Hanover to her seventh win in 33 career starts. Rocklamation earned $340,000 as a sophomore for trainer Ron Burke and owners Jerry Silva, Stable 45 and Our Horse Cents Stable.
Making her highly-anticipated return to racing after being sidelined with a knee injury for her four-year-old season, Post 10 starter Put On A Show was parked out most of the mile and finished five lengths behind the winner in ninth-place.
Friday's card also featured two $15,000 Rags To Riches Semi-Finals for $10,000 claimers, which were won by Oscar Oscar and Andy Miller in 1:51.4 and Rockin Glass and Brian Sears in 1:54.1.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Meadowlands Racetrack.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)