A beautiful Saturday evening (June 3) provided a perfect setting for the 2017 edition of JerseyFest at The Meadowlands, with a packed house taking in the finest food trucks in the area and a fantastic 12-race card.
The featured $20,000 Preferred Pace lived up to top billing, with the classy 11-year-old veteran, Clear Vision, escaping with a nose victory after an epic four-way slugfest through the stretch, equalling his career best in 1:48.2.
Clear Vision (Scott Zeron) left the gate aggressively from post four, before yielding to even-money favourite Mel Mara (Corey Callahan) just past the opening quarter in :26.3. Dealt A Winner (Andy Miller) settled in third in the early stages, while former New Zealand superstar, Christen Me (Victor Kirby), got away fourth from the outside post in the field of seven.
They would continue to race like that through a half-mile in :54.1, and through the three-quarter marker in 1:22, before all three challengers fanned out off the cones turning for home to take their shot at the front-stepping Mel Mara.
Ultimately, Clear Vision dug down to hit the line first, with only a neck separating the top four finishers. Mel Mara settled for second after putting up all the fractions, with Christen Me finishing just better than Dealt A Winner for third.
It was a rebound win for Clear Vision after an impossible trip in last week's $150,000 Molson Pace at Western Fair resulted in a disappointing seventh-place finish. It was the 38th win of his career, pushing his career bounty to $2.71 million.
Clear Vision is owned by Robert Santagata and trainer Jennifer Lappe.
Total handle on the 12-race card was $2,995,672.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)