In 1995, when in his first go-round as a member of the Meadowlands’ TV team, Dave Little paired up with his wife, Debbie, to do a segment called "The Dueling Littles," where the married then-New York tabloid harness handicappers went head-to-head for household bragging rights.
It was Debbie who came out as the more prolific picker.
Now, 30 years later, it may not be a competition, but the partnership, which reached 36 years of marriage on Wednesday, Sept. 10, is as strong as ever, as the duo will once again appear together on the “Racing from The Meadowlands” live simulcast show on Friday, Sept. 12. The pre-game show gets underway at 5:45 p.m. with the first race heading to the gate at 6:20 p.m.
“It’s been quite some time since I’ve done live television,” said Debbie, the associate editor and "Meadowlands Matters" columnist at Harness Racing Update. “I’m looking forward to doing the show. I handicapped many a harness race while at The New York Post for nearly 27 years and look forward to trying to pick as many winners as I can.”
She then said with a laugh: “Hopefully, more than my husband does.”
Debbie was inducted into the Communicators Hall of Fame in early July, making the Littles the only married couple to be enshrined there together. Debbie wrote about harness racing and tabbed winners at The New York Post from 1993-2020 before getting her gig at Harness Racing Update.
There will be two carryovers waiting for players after the popular puzzles went unhit last Saturday night. There were no winning tickets sold on the 20-cent Pick-6, creating a carryover of $3,727 for Friday’s card. The wager spans races eight through 13. In addition, nobody had a ticket that read 4-9-3-2-7 on the 14th race 10-cent Hi-5 (Pentafecta), meaning that wager will have a carryover of $18,290 heading into Friday’s finale.
This Friday and Saturday (Sept. 12-13) mark the final two live harness racing programs at The Big M for a while. Harness will take a four-week break while Monmouth Park conducts a Thoroughbred turf meeting at the mile oval. The nine turf programs are scheduled for Sept. 19, 20, 26 & 27 and Oct. 3, 4, 10, 11 & 17. Harness racing returns on Saturday, Oct. 18.
(Meadowlands Racetrack)