After a scheduled brief hiatus, racing will returns to the Meadows on Saturday, April 27 and four late-closer finals will be on tap. Trainer Ron Burke is loaded with talent in the finals and will be looking to complete a sweep of the events.
The $28,700 Margaret Provost Memorial Trot (Race 3) for three-year-old filly trotters is led by the Ron Burke trained Firedbylindie, a daughter of Explosive Matter who was an easy winner in the first two legs of the series and recorded a career-best 1:56 victory in her last start. The filly will start from Post 4 and will be driven by Dave Palone. It appears as though her main competition will come from the Norm Parker-trained Sweet Madam and driver Ronnie Wrenn Jr., who will start from Post 8.
The $26,300 Ruby Cook Memorial (Race 4) for three-year-old filly pacers looks like it will be a match race between a pair of Burke-trained three-year-old Sweet Lou fillies Pretty N Fast and Walk On Air. Both fillies won their preliminary divisions of the series. Dave Palone has driven both fillies in the previous legs and has selected to go with Pretty N Fast, while Mike Wilder has picked up the mount of Walk On Air in the final. The two fillies will start next to each other from Posts 4 and 5, respectively.
The $31,100 Ben Wood Memorial Trot (Race 5) for three-year-old colt and gelding trotters will be led by another Burke trainee, Capt Chaps Hanover, who will start from Post 2. After having gone winless in nine starts as a two-year-old, the gelded son of Explosive Matter is 3-for-4 thus far in 2019 and has won during both legs of the series. It appears as though his main competition will be from Cash Hit (who will start from the rail for trainer Steven Walters and driver Brady Brown), the Karen Fread-trained Papi Hanover (Post 4) and Dirk Simpson’s Explosive Magic (Post 9).
The $25,400 Tom Kirwan Memorial Pace (Race 6) for three-year-old colt and gelding pacers appears to be a wide-open affair. Previous series winners Doctor Jimmy has drawn the coveted rail for Ronnie Wrenn Jr. and trainer Brian Brown. Docs Hooligan has drawn Post 2 for trainer Bruce Riegle and driver Tony Hall. Wild Wild Western has drawn Post 9 for Norm Parker and Mike Wilder. Although he has gone winless through the first two legs, the Ron Burke-trained Yacht Week looms formidable after a third-place finish in his only start in the series. Yacht Week, who will start from Post 8, sports a two-year-old record of 1:51.2 which was taken at Lexington’s Red Mile.
The Meadows will be rolling out its new starting gate on Saturday, with a reduced slant of seven feet down from the previous slant of 13 feet. Post time for the 14-race card will be at 1:05 p.m.
(Meadows)