Using a powerful late kick, Louisville GB continued her winning ways on Friday, May 16 at The Meadowlands, taking the $31,250 feature, a TrackMaster 89.4 for fillies and mares on the pace.
The Robert Cleary-trained five-year-old daughter of Sweet Lou-The Player Hanover won for the seventh time this year from just nine starts and now has 16 victories in 29 lifetime tries.
“He brings them ready,” said winning driver Tyler Buter of Cleary. “You have to try and put them in the right spot.”
And that’s exactly what Buter did.
Hers Hungry (Scott Zeron), Miss Dottie Mae (David Miller), My August Moon A (Lauren Tritton) and Elektra A (Brett Beckwith( all barrelled into the first turn, assuring a fast pace, as Buter kept 2-5 favourite Louisville GB off the action, sitting seventh in the nine-horse field as My August Moon A had a narrow edge on a parked-out Elektra A at the quarter in a snappy :26.4.
Elektra A led at the half in :53.4 and three-quarters in 1:22 but was under siege from a first-over Pembroke Southie (Mark Herschberger) at both of those calls, setting the race up for a closer.
Louisville GB was in position to strike third-over and swung three-wide coming out of the far turn. With a full head of steam, Louisville GB was on even terms with new leader Pembroke Southie at the head of the stretch before striding clear to the wire to record a three-length win in 1:50, a clocking that lowered her previous lifetime best by one and two-fifth seconds. Pembroke Southie was a determined second-place finisher. Hers Hungry was third.
“Robbie [Cleary] switched up her routine and kept her outside,” said Buter. “She was a lot calmer [than usual]. She let me do what I wanted with her and she exploded home. She’s great-gaited and can race on any size track.”
With the victory, Louisville GB lifted her lifetime earnings to $122,663. She is owned by Ken Jacobs.
Louisville GB returned $2.80 to win.
Karen Fossili finished the night with a bankroll of $443.70 to win the fifth edition of the 2025 Meadowlands Monthly Handicapping Contest and walked away with the first prize of $500 USD in the competition that offers $1,000 USD in prize money.
Russ Slader’s bankroll of $350 was good for second and a cheque for $250 USD. Finishing third was D. Gieck, who collected $150 USD with a bankroll of $244.20. Fourth went to Russ Slader, whose bankroll of $150 earned him $100 USD.
By finishing 1-2, Fossili and Slader have now qualified for the year-end contest on Dec. 13, which has a prize pool of $10,000 USD.
Buter led the driver colony with four winners on the program. Ivan Llopez and Carl Tirella paced the trainers with a pair of victories each.
A carryover of $11,399 motivated players to pour $62,453 of “new money” into the 10-cent Hi-5 pool in the 14th race. With 3-5 favourite Moneymakesherhappy failing to be in the top five, the winning combination of 4-3-8-6-7 returned $859.75.
All-source betting on the 14-race card totalled $2,533,356 USD.
Racing resumes on Saturday at 6:20 p.m. The feature is the $158,000 USD Arthur J. Cutler Memorial for older trotters.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)