Saturday night's card of live racing at the Meadowlands Racetrack may look familiar as you flip through the program, but don't be put off by that sense of déjà vu. Half of the card consists of Winter Series finals and a few other stakes, casualties of last Saturday's snow-out that were carried over intact to this weekend.
The stakes action will begin in Race 2 with the $49,000 Charles Singer trotting final. Super Bowl series champ JL Cruze heads into the race as the morning-line favourite and is scheduled to take on six rivals for driver John Campbell from Post 1. A model of consistency throughout the winter racing, JL Cruze has won four of six and $52,500 for trainer Eric Ell and owners Ken Wood, Bill Dittmar Jr. and Steve Iaquinta.
JL Cruze will face a triumvirate of trotters coupled as the 1, 1A and 1B entry which contains Opulent Yankee who has also been rock solid thus far in 2015 with three wins and three seconds from six seasonal starts. Among those wins is a pair over JL Cruze, both of which were sub-1:54 efforts. The Millers, Andy driving and Julie training, will send Opulent Yankee out in quest of the big prize on behalf of Jeff Gural's Little E, LLC and his partners Art Geiger, Jason Settlemoir and Dave Stolz.
The $59,000 Sonsam final for three and four-year-old pacing males (Race 6) shapes up as an intriguing contest matching the speedy Rockeyed Optimist against potential series sweeper Major Uptrend.
Rockeyed Optimist has really blossomed into a solid performer this season at age 4 for Anthony Perretti, Ginny Berkner, A&B Stable and Joe Battaglia. He closed out his 1:50.3 Leg 2 win with a searing :25.4 final panel under his own power in his first race with the Meadowlands' hottest reinsman, Brett Miller, aboard for trainer Steve Elliott.
Major Uptrend has had a successful winter campaign already and captured both Sonsam leg starts in forwardly-placed fashion for Meadowlands leading trainer/driver combo of Ron Burke and Yannick Gingras and owner Howard Taylor.
Quality eclipses quantity as a competitive field of six pacing mares (five betting interests) will contest the $50,600 Burning Point final (Race 11). Empress Deo has gradually earned the respect of the oddsmaker and horseplayer alike as she attempts the difficult series sweep. After having returned a $30 mutuel in Leg 1, then $12 last week, she heads into the final as the morning line choice. Brett Miller drives for trainer Wayne Givens and owner Legacy Racing of Delaware.
The Buddy Gilmour series is restricted to sophomore pacing colts and geldings and offers a look at two of the more exciting prospects we've seen thus far in 2015. They drew apart for the opening $17,500 Gilmour divisions, heightening the anticipation of an eventual match-up down the road.
National Seelster was unraced at two, but has certainly caught the eye of racing fans this winter with an impressive pair of wins against overnight company. He is an imposing presence from the rail in race five with Andy Miller at the lines for trainer Chris Ryder and owners Bob Mondillo and Oompa's Farm.
The talented but lightly-raced Wiggle It Jiggleit came to the Meadowlands for a leg of the Sonsam two weeks ago with some pretty imposing lines on his card and left with the respect of his peers after a crushing first-over 1:49.4 win against older horses.
Owner George Teague Jr. skipped Leg 2 of the Sonsam and bypasses the final of that series to race against his age group in this late closer. That is good news for those racing in the Sonsam final but not such good news for his rivals in the Gilmour. The extra week without a race may be cause for concern with this guy for some, but the Teague operation always brings them ready to race. Montrell Teague drives and Clyde Francis trains the Mr Wiggles gelding.
On the wagering front, the last race Jackpot Hi-5 carryover goes into Friday night's card at $137,815. That and the other various guaranteed wagers are available for the value seeking horseplayer.
First-race post time for the Meadowlands’ Saturday card is 7:15 p.m.
(Meadowlands)