Picture perfect weather conditions greeted a large crowd on Saturday evening (June 24) at The Meadowlands for live racing on the track and the annual Winefest off the track.
The featured event of the night, a conditioned event carrying a purse of $18,000, lived up to expectations with the classy Bettors Edge (Victor Kirby) surviving a tough journey to score in 1:48.2, just one-fifth of a second off his career best.
Titus Seelster (Eric Abbatiello) blasted off the wings but faced immediate earlier pressure from Seeley Man (Christian Lind), the former Maine superstar who was 24-for-24 at the ages of two and three. Those two duelled through an opening split of :26.4, with Seeley Man eventually muscling his way to the lead. Shortly after clearing for the lead, it was millionaire In The Arsenal (Vinnie Ginsburg) who launched an attack, clearing to take over shortly after the half in :53.3.
Bettors Edge was left uncovered after In The Arsenal cleared to the lead, but the classy son of Bettors Delight eventually wore down that rival shortly after three-quarters in 1:21, and staved off a mild late bid from More Dragon (Marcus Miller) to pick up his 36th career win.
Jennifer Lappe conditions the winner and co-owns with Robert Santagata, both of Campbell Hall, New York. With the win, Bettors Edge is now less than $40,000 shy of $2 million in career earnings.
Total handle on the 11-race card was $2,229,351.
Live racing resumes next Friday featuring a retirement celebration in honour of Hall of Famer John Campbell.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)