Those who appreciate two-year-old racing will adore this Friday’s (September 15) card at the Meadowlands, where ten of the 11 races are fourth-leg Kindergarten divisions and all but four horses on the entire 11-race program are rookies.
The Kindergarten races are comprised of two divisions each for pacing fillies and colts and three for each sex of the trotters, all of which will be raced for $10,000 purses. Also on the table are points toward the $175,000 (est.) Kindergarten finals, which will be raced at the Meadowlands on Saturday, November 4 after the last preliminary leg is contested at Vernon Downs on October 26.
The most accomplished of the freshmen racing in the Friday Kindergarten leg are a pair of Donato Hanover trotting colts come along in the ninth race. That split will pit PA Sires Stakes final winner Fashionwoodchopper against Reynolds winner Farsetti Hanover, who was a winner last week in Leg 3.
Fashionwoodchopper (PP7) has but two wins in five starts, although they were timely ones. A PASS win in August cemented his position in the $252,000 final and he converted that opportunity into a state crown at odds of 38-1 for driver David Miller and trainer Jim Campbell. Jules Siegel’s Fashion Farms is the owner.
Farsetti Hanover (PP4) was third in the Peter Haughton final, won the Reynolds, and was an easy winner of his Kindergarten leg as the 2-5 choice last week. Marcus Miller drives for his father, trainer Erv, who owns the colt in a partnership with George Golemes and David Prushnok.
The Kindergarten point standings may be viewed on the Meadowlands’ website.
(Meadowlands Racetrack)