James Borke and DeWitt Stables' Camara Moment rode the pocket to a mild 6-1 upset in the Saturday, Aug. 9 co-featured $23,973 upper-level conditioned pace at The Meadowlands, stopping the clock in a seasonal-best 1:50.3 and notching his sixth top-two finish in his last seven starts.
With the scratch of Its My Show reducing the field to six, Camara Moment and driver Mark Herschberger had no trouble vaulting to the lead from their outside post, clearing T H Tyson (Patrick Ryder) on entry to the first turn before yielding to that rival just beyond the :27.4 first quarter. Camara Moment enjoyed clear sailing in the two-hole behind T H Tyson through middle splits of :57 and 1:24.1 before angling off the pegs to set up a stretch duel.
Ryder called upon T H Tyson for all he had in the final eighth, but the persistent Camara Moment lunged to reel him in with 70 yards to go and win by a widening 2-1/2 lengths on the strength of a :26.1 sprint home. Stay Grounded (Jack Callaghan) gave stout chase from just off the top pair to narrowly miss the place spot.
"I was thrilled with the trip," said Herschberger. "Nobody was pushing out of there (at the start), so I decided to go ahead for it, and it worked out. T H came back and covered us up and gave us a nice trip."
Michael Fiumenero trains Camara Moment, who now has 21 career wins to his credit and $434,370 in career earnings in 78 starts. As the fourth choice, Camara Moment paid $15.20 to win.
Jack Callaghan, 23, drove his first-ever North American winner when he teamed Gazoo to a 1:51.1 win in the evening's fifth race, a $14,384 TrackMaster Rating pace. Callaghan sent the six-year-old Roll With Joe-String Bikini gelding to the lead from post six, and the pair controlled sectional times of :26.3, :55.4, and 1:23.2 before staving off a late rally from Captain Marvel (Jeff Dauplaise) to win by a half-length for trainer Veronica Spicer and owner Peter Kleinhans.
Callaghan also won the finale, a $10,959 TrackMaster Rating pace, with 6-1 shot Ayr Pioneer GB, who rallied from far off the pace to score in 1:54.4 for trainer Besim Odza and owner Dein Spriggs.
In his native Australia, Callaghan has driven the winners of 803 races, including seven Group 1 trophies.
Herschberger took top driving honours on the 12-race card with four wins, including a 42-1 upset with Bill Augustine's Trumpster Blues ($87.40) in the co-featured $23,973 conditioned pace for developing horses. The five-year-old Always B Miki-Simplyirresistible entire swung wide off live cover provided by Captain Bazinga (Barton Dalious) before striking the front in deep stretch to best 22-1 outsider Beach Club Monty (James Kennedy) by three-quarters of a length in 1:51.3.
The 30-year-old reinsman also found the winner's circle with Geovany Hernandez trainee Rojans Way ($10, 1:52.2) and Harold Herrera trainee Good Rockin ($23, 1:49.4).
Odds-on favourites were upended in the final three races, prompting a pair of carryovers to Friday's card: $26,408.12 in the Late Pick-4 and $4,028.49 in the Pick-6. The 20-cent Survivor Pick-7 paid $6,808.16. All-source handle totaled $1,586,724.
Live racing returns to the Big M on Friday; first post is 6:20 p.m.
(With files from The Meadowlands)