Heavy rains loomed over the beginning of the post-John Campbell era on Saturday night (July 1) at The Meadowlands, before moving out after the first two races, making way for a 'good' track for the remainder of the program.
The co-featured 'Dash for the G Notes' Final went for a purse of $17,500 in the sixth race of the night, where Ville Valo romped by six lengths in 1:49.3 in a down the road effort. He was making his fifth start for trainer Richard Johnson since being plucked for $27,000 from the May Tattersalls Mixed Sale. The win was his third consecutive for the new connections, easily a new lifetime best. Joe Bongiorno drove the four-year old son of Real Desire for the home team, as he co-owns with the J&T Silva Stables LLC. Spicebomb (Vincent Ginsburg) applied moderate first-over pressure to the leader around the far turn and held sway to hold second, with Moonlight Ransom (Kyle DiBenedetto) taking third.
The seventh race, a conditioned event carrying a purse of $17,500, turned into a playground for trainer Jackie Greene, who sent out a powerful two-horse entry in St Lads Moonwalk (Vincent Ginsburg) and Titus Seelster (Eric Abbatiello). The stablemates both went gunning for the early lead; St Lads Moonwalk briefly took over after beginning from post six, but it was Titus Seelster who ended up back on top after starting from post 10. He went on to carve out crisp fractions of :26.3, :54.3, and 1:21.4, turning home a length clear of a first-over Iwillmakeyousaywow (Austin Siegelman) with his stablemate remaining on his back in third. Titus Seelster put away Iwillmakeyousaywow, but couldn't fend off his stablemate, St Lads Moonwalk, who snuck up the inside to win by a half-length in 1:49.1. Both horses are owned by the Kellogg Racing Stables of Queensbury, New York. The veteran, Ontario Success (Joe Bongiorno), parlayed a second=over trip into a third-place finish, beaten only three-quarters of a length.
Total handle on the 12-race program was $2,427,822.
Live racing continues at The Meadowlands on Friday and Saturday evenings with a first post of 7:15 p.m.
(Meadowlands Racetrack)