The Meadowlands Racetrack will celebrate the career of harness racing's greatest driver on Friday evening (June 30), as John Campbell will compete in his final U.S. races.
Campbell’s final drive will come on Sunday, July 30, during Clinton Raceway’s Legends Day card. Campbell is retiring from competitive racing to assume his new role as President & CEO of the Hambletonian Society.
Campbell's accomplishments are the stuff of legend, having won every race worth winning in a career that has seen him steer the winners of nearly $300 million. His name appears as the leader in virtually every driving category at the Meadowlands.
The celebration will begin at 6:00 p.m. on the grandstand level, where Campbell will greet fans and sign autographs before stepping outside to ‘go to the office’ on the racetrack one last time.
The live racing includes ten races on the betting card and three early races that include the $20,000 New Jersey Sires Stakes (NJSS) for two-year-olds.
With just a handful of sires standing in New Jersey for the 2014 breeding season, the NJSS is down to eight or fewer horses being eligible to all divisions of two-year-olds. As a result, the colt and filly paces and colt trot will be raced off the betting program starting at 6:30 p.m. and will be carried on the Meadowlands simulcast broadcast.
The pari-mutuel card includes four freshman events featuring the NJSS for trotting fillies in Race 2, where trainer Noel Daley is holding a strong hand with a pair of by Wishing Stone in the field of six.
Be Bop Sally ($25,000 Lex Select) has had two good qualifiers in anticipation of the stakes, the more recent a 2:00.4 effort at the Meadowlands. She is owned by the trainer in partnership with the driver, Andy McCarthy, and Patricia Stable and starts from Post 2 on Friday.
Diamond Stone US ($20,000 Lex Select) has past performance lines that virtually mirror those of her stablemate, having trotted two ticks faster in her Meadowlands qualifier. She is wholly owned by trainer Daley and he has named David Miller to drive.
Post time Friday is 7:15 p.m.
(Meadowlands)