The Saturday night Pick 4 at the Meadowlands includes a pair of highly contentious $200,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Championships for three-year-old pacers
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The Pick 4 begins in Race 6 and features a $50,000 guaranteed pool and low 15 percent takeout. The second leg of the Pick 4, Race 7, is a wide-open affair with preliminary leg winners Special Sweetheart, Scarlet Mczara, Mcgibson and Precious Stone leading the way in the fillies' NJSS championship. Despite drawing Post 10, Special Sweetheart received the nod as the 3-1 morning line favourite in the race after a razor sharp 1:50.4 effort last week. Eric Goodell has the driving assignment.
The final leg of the Pick 4, Race 9, pits current standout Drop Red against last season's NJSS victor Dial Or Nodial in the championship for colts. Drop Red is rated as the 5-2 morning line favourite from Post 8 with George Brennan in the irons. Trained by Bob Horowitz, Drop Red followed a close second in the $230,000 Berry's Creek on May 9 with back-to-back wins in the preliminary rounds of the NJSS.
Dial Or Nodial, NJ's top two-year-old pacer in 2008, makes just his second start of the season in Saturday's final. He is rated as the 3-1 second choice from Post 4 and will have Brian Sears, his regular partner last year, back in the sulky. Dial Or Nodial, trained by Jim Campbell, won eight of 13 starts as a freshman.
The best bet at the track, the Pick 4 is a $1 minimum wager featuring a low 15 percent takeout and nightly guaranteed pools ($25,000 Wednesday through Friday, $50,000 Saturday). The Pick 4 payout has averaged $4,682 for a $1 wager through the first five months of racing in 2009, producing a $1,000 return over 50 percent of the time. The Pick 4 paid a record $55,466 on March 25, 2009.
For free program pages for Saturday's NJSS Championships, click here.
Get Meadowlands racing analyst Bob "Hollywood" Heyden's Saturday Pick 4 ticket by clicking here.
Meadowlands Introduces News Series For Claimers
Nominations are now being accepted for the new Instrument Landing series at Meadowlands Racetrack.
The three-week series for $15,000 claiming pacers begins Wednesday, June 24 and features two $12,500 legs culminating in a $50,000 final on July 8. Horses must race in both legs to be eligible to the final. In the preliminary legs, horses are eligible to be claimed for $17,500, of which $500 goes toward the final purse. There will be no claiming in the final.
The nominating fee for the Instrument Landing is $500; deadline is Tuesday, June 16. Click here for the application or contact the Meadowlands Race Office at 1-877-STABLES.
(NJSEA)