River Ness is earning a reputation as a horse that can put together monster miles. He did it again on Saturday, June 15 at The Meadowlands to win the the featured $20,548 TrackMaster pace for horses with a rating of 86.5 or less.
River Ness got his last win on May 25 after going a huge mile and getting up in a three-horse scrum at the wire. He came back with slightly better stock on Saturday and pulled another rabbit out of the hat, sneaking up the inside to take the win.
The Per Engblom trainee was away quickly from post seven in the nine-horse field and motored past the quarter on the point in :26.3. River Ness yielded the top to Congressional, who bulled his way out of three-hole before the three-eighths and sprinted to the lead, reaching the half in :55.
Congressional took big-time pressure from Pinebushdragonroll (Joe Bongiorno) – who was in search of a sixth straight Meadowlands score – around the far turn as they hit three-quarters in 1:22.3, which may have made the difference in the outcome.
Through the stretch, Congressional was determined, but driver Jason Bartlett found enough space along the cones with River Ness in deep stretch to hunt down the leader by three-quarters of a length in 1:49.4, just a fifth of a second off his lifetime best set three weeks ago. Its In The Stars (Tyler Buter) was third.
“My horse got out of the gate really well, and then, when Kevin [Wallis, driving Congressional] came over, we were following the right helmet,” said Bartlett. “Kevin’s horse was running out a bit, so I thought I might have some room in the stretch. He got a little tired and we got some room. My horse is very versatile and loves his job.”
A six-year-old gelding by Huntsville-Summertime Lea who is owned by the Canarsie Stable, River Ness returned $11.20 to his backers as the 9-2 third choice in the betting. He now has 12 wins from 70 lifetime starts, good for earnings of $361,581.
Tyler Buter and Bartlett led the driver colony with three winners apiece.
With a modest carryover of $4,615 leading to a total pool of just under $27,000, one lucky patron walked away with a handsome payout of $23,540 in the 20-cent Pick-6.
All-source handle on the 14-race card totalled $2,512,302 USD.
Racing resumes at The Meadowlands on Friday, June 21 at 6:20 p.m.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)