The Jim Campbell trainee Broadway Donna made her return to the races Saturday, May 12, and she got rave reviews from all who saw her dominate the field in the feature at the Meadowlands: the $20,000 Preferred Handicap for trotters.
“Last year, she got off to a good start,” said Campbell. “But after we shipped her to Canada early in the season, everything went wrong. She got sick. She tied up. We had some starts where I thought she’d be good, but she wasn’t. Everything just kind of backfired on us.”
Campbell ended Broadway Donna’s one-win season in early October and did not bring her back until April with a pair qualifiers at the Big M.
“She was pretty good in her last qualifier [on April 28],” said Campbell. “She was closing in on Hannelore Hanover. Dave [Miller] was very happy with her.”
Saturday night, Broadway Donna got away third, brushed to the top at the three-eighths, sped clear of the field by almost three lengths at the head of the stretch before going on to an easy win in 1:51.4, just three-fifths of a second off her lifetime best.
“I’m going to race her every two or three weeks,” said Campbell. “And we sure did get off to a good start tonight.”
Broadway Donna returned $3.40 to win as the odds-on public choice, hitting the wire one-and-one-half lengths in front of Misslarose. Lagerfeld was third. The five-year-old daughter of Donato Hanover has now won 18 of 33 starts lifetime and banked $1.28 million for owner Fashion Farms.
A LITTLE MORE: Canadian-based trainer Blake MacIntosh had a big night, as he entered the evening with zero wins at the meeting before recording three on the program. His wins came with Life Happened ($6.20) in 1:52.3, Rootin Tootin ($7.00) in 1:52.1 and Come Get The Cash ($6.60) in 1:53.2.
Meadowlands Pace-hopeful Babes Dig Me beat up on an overmatched field in a division of the Escort for three-year-old colts and geldings in 1:53.4 as the 1-9 favourite.
All-source wagering on the card dipped to $1,824,071 due to a lack of entries. On the corresponding card a year ago, the total handle was $2.03 million as 95 starters competed on an 11-race card that averaged 8.6 starters per race. On Saturday night, only 71 starters took part in the 10-race program, an average of 7.1 per race.
There was only one player who survived nine legs in the 20-Cent Survivor Pick-10, and they walked away with $13,943.
The Late 20-Cent Jackpot Super High-Five failed to result in a single-ticket winner, bloating the carryover to $221,892.
Racing resumes at the Big M Friday, May 18 at 7:15 p.m.
(With files from the Meadowlands)