Practical Man got his three-year-old season off to a good start on Friday, May 1 at The Meadowlands, as the Tom Fanning trainee made the lead at the half and just held on at the wire to score in the featured $27,397 high-end conditioned event for sophomore male trotters.
“He has to get a little better to go with the top horses,” said Fanning. “Tonight was the first step in the right direction and he will do fine in New Jersey races.”
Dollar Draft, the 3-1 second choice driven by Andrew McCarthy, had the lead at the quarter in the eight-horse field in a tepid :29.3 before Practical Man and Todd McCarthy moved out of the four-hole and brushed to command at the half in :59.1. He maintained a 1-1/4-length edge at three-quarters, which went in 1:27.4, before holding off the late-surging Dollar Draft at the wire by a head in 1:55.1, a lifetime best for the colt by Tactical Landing-Fashion Athenia. Southwind Fargo and Ake Svanstedt were third.
“He’s come back pretty well this year. He was nice at two but took a little bit to mature. He’s come back pretty smart,” said winning driver Todd McCarthy. “Once he got [to the lead], we got some soft fractions, and when I asked him off the turn, he had a good kick.”
As the 3-5 favourite, Practical Man, a New Jersey Classic elimination winner at two, returned $3.20 to his backers.
He is owned by Joseph Smith of Vero Beach, Florida.
The co-featured filly class was won by bettors' choice Diamond Bay, now two-for-two to start the season after a five-stakes rookie campaign, lowering her mark to 1:54.2. Andrew McCarthy drove the Six Pack-Tactical Caviar miss, who beat Naachtun (Dexter Dunn) by half a length, for trainer Noel Daley and owners Patricia Stables of Massapequa, New York, Caviart Farms of Vienna, Virginia, Sjoblom Racing Inc. of Delray Beach, Florida and Michael Dolan of Sarasota, Florida.
For a third consecutive Friday night, Braxten Boyd recorded four winners to be the top gun among the drivers.
Chase Vandervort, the veteran horseman known to New Jersey regulars for his years at Freehold Raceway, recorded his first-ever driving win at The Meadowlands after guiding Mr Grant to victory lane in the 10th race.
Veteran Big M TV host Dave Little had another big Friday night. A week ago, he gave out eight winners and ended this night one winner short of equalling that feat, selecting seven on top.
All-source handle on the 14-race card totalled $2,586,975 USD.
Racing resumes on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. The program features the start of the track’s Championship Meet with the Dexter Cup (open) and Lady Suffolk (fillies) for three-year-old trotters.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)