With the majority of the Meadowlands mainstay drivers at Mohawk Racetrack for the North America Cup eliminations, full-fields and competitive racing led to one of the largest handle increases of the year.
At the end of the program, the $3,039,441 wagered was an increase of $1,052,585 from the $1,986,856 bet on the same Saturday card in 2012. That marked an increase of 53 per cent. The Saturday program ran the same number of races (13) as the year before. Live handle also showed an increase.
On the racetrack, the Summer Survivor Series for pacers headed up the Saturday night Meadowlands card with the first of three legs leading into the June 29 final.
The lightly raced Western Ideal colt Word Power posted another impressive win in the first of two divisions, following his 1:50.1 maiden breaker with a wide 1:51.3 score, pacing his individual final half in a tick less than :53-seconds.
Corey Callahan picked the drive up for the Remmen barn with the exodus of Meadowlands regulars to Mohawk and kept the Word Power in the outer tier following cover, tipping three-wide around horses on the final bend. He finished with something left and the future looks bright for Milton, Ont. owner Bradley Grant's colt.
In the other Survivor Series leg, Lucan Hanover exerted his dominance with an authoritative 1:51.1 score over Roar for driver Mark MacDonald. Lucan Hanover is trained by Casie Coleman and owned by West Wins Stable of Cambridge, Ont. and Christine Calhoun of Chatham, Ont.
The Caramore Series got underway with five divisions, two of which were won by horses owned, trained and driven by Jeff Dauplaise. Andy Baran scored for Dauplaise in 1:52.2, while Long Live Rock looked like the horse to beat in the series, winning by four lengths in 1:51.2. The other Caramore winners were Nick Surick trainee Esprit De Kayjay A and driver Jim Pantaleano in 1:51.4; Awesome Armbro N and driver Mike Lachance in 1:51.2 for trainer Ross Croghan; and Redneck Outlaw in 1:52.2 for driver Vincent Ginsburg and trainer Vincent Fusco.
Fresh off three consecutive wins at Harrah's Philadelphia, Abelard Hanover took a new lifetime mark of 1:49 in this week's $30,000 Free-For-All Handicap Pace at the Big M. Driven by Frank Milby, the five-year-old Rocknroll Hanover gelding prevailed by a head over Statesman N for trainer Alvin Callahan, who co-owns with Suzanne Waskey and Pamela Price.
Racing returns on Friday night, featuring the second rounds of the Summer Survivor Series Trot, Cathedra Dot Com and Flower Child series, with post time at 7:15 p.m.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Meadowlands Racetrack.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)