It was not the smoothest of trips, but it didn’t matter one bit to Inverse Hanover, who toyed with a half-dozen overmatched opponents in the Friday night feature at the Meadowlands, a $17,500 conditioned pace for fillies and mares.
The four-year-old daughter of Somebeachsomewhere clearly benefited from her tightener over the track one week ago – a superb speed try where she was gunned down at the wire – and set sail for the lead, but with three leavers to her inside, Brett Miller had to ease off the gas just a bit before pushing down on the throttle again while parked to surge to the top at the three-eighths.
After hitting the half in :54.2, the Ed Hart trainee just kept on rolling, reaching three-quarters in 1:22.1 as longshot Best Of Jenna was towing 2-1 second choice Penpal into contention.
But Inverse Hanover still had more.
The 4-5 public choice sprinted her final quarter in :27.1 – as Penpal came up empty racing three-wide into the stretch, finishing sixth – and went on to a one ans a quarter-length score in 1:49.2, lowering her previous lifetime best by two and two-fifth seconds. Clear Idea was second with Keystone Riptide third.
Inverse Hanover, who paid $3.60 to win, has now won six of eight starts this year for owners Thomas Pollack and Jeffrey Cullipher. Lifetime, she’s now 11-for-28 with earnings of just over $196,000.
Once again, the Meadowlands’ popular 20-cent Survivor Pick-10 wager – which was reduced to a Pick-9 on this occasion – resulted in a single-ticket winner Friday night.
A total of $19,926 was bet on the wager that requires a player to ‘survive’ as many legs as he or she can. One lucky player betting into the Portland, Oregon hub was the only player to survive eight legs and walked away with $16,915.
A LITTLE MORE: Wagering on the track’s signature Pick-4 bet remained strong. For a third straight program, the pool exceeded $100,000 when $113,837 was poured into the pot. … The early 20-cent Jackpot Super High-Five – which had a 14-1 shot and an 18-1 chance finish 1-2 – returned $9,833. The jackpot paid out two tickets due to a dead heat for third… The late 20-cent Jackpot Super High-Five failed to result in a single-ticket winner, bloating the carryover to $211,753. … All-source wagering on the nine-race program totaled $2,107,047. … Racing resumes Saturday at 7:15 p.m. Defending Horse of the Year Hannelore Hanover makes her seasonal debut leaving from post 12 in the feature, the $182,500 Cutler Memorial for trotters. ... Gates open at the Big M at 9:30 a.m. for Kentucky Derby Day. Post time at Churchill Downs is 10:30 a.m. The Derby is set to go at 6:50 p.m.
(Meadowlands Racetrack)