The $36,671 winners-over pacing feature at The Meadowlands on Saturday, April 20, was won by Andy McCarthy and Maximus Miki. It's not often that a driver wants to go on a first-over trip, especially when there are so many outstanding horses in the field.
McCarthy remarked, "He's been up against some good horses down at Dover." He is merely an elderly grinder. He enjoys moving and remaining active.
No one was surprised when even-money favourite American Dealer N shot off from post seven in the seven-horse race and finished in a lightning-fast:26.2, parked at the quarter after being slightly extended by Lyons Steel.
The circuit was speed-favouring the entire night, so even if Scott Zeron was able to cut things down to half as American Dealer N arrived at that station in :54.3, things still looked good for the chalk.
Maximus Miki, a five-year-old gelded son of Always B Miki-Beach Gal, was only a length behind the leader at the three-quarters, which went in 1:22.3. He quickly caught up to the leader after vacating the five-hole at the half.
American Dealer N was just where Maximus Miki intended him to be.
"Miki" abruptly moved forward at the beginning of the stretch, keeping a safe distance from the wire the entire distance, and made contact with it first by a short distance. Third place went to American Dealer N, followed by a late-closing Rockin On Venus. The mile took 1:50.2 minutes.
McCarthy added, "I was very pleased with the number of leavers." It worked out beautifully because I wanted to be the first one over. I believed I was ahead of the fractions. Although American Dealer N is a classy guy, I was happy with how the fractions went.
Maximus Miki, owned by John Cancelliere, improved his career results to 15 victories from 31 races, totalling $198,766 in earnings. He returned $4.60 as the 6-5 second choice and won.
After setting a track record of 1:50 for an older gelding three weeks prior, Lexus Kody easily won the $36,671 winners-over featured trot, leading the field from start to finish as the 1-5 favourite.
Driven by Yannick Gingras and trained by Ron Burke, the six-year-old son of Archangel-Lexus Helios recorded times of :27.3, :55.4, and 1:24 before finishing with a sprint home time of :28.2, completing a 1:52.2 clocking to win his second consecutive race at The Big M and third in four attempts.
Before Voukefalas (Lazarus N-Inittowinafortune) and Handlelikeaporsche (Lazarus N-The Signature) finished in a dead heat in the dash for pacing horses and geldings, Lisa Lane (Lazarus N-Special Kay Deo) came from off the pace to take the mare pace in 1:52.4 for Patrick Ryder and Chris Ryder. Handlelikeaporsche was driven by Dexter Dunn and trained by Chris Ryder, while Voukefalas was driven by Jordan Stratton and taught by Michael Russo. The mile was in 1:50.4.
The only $17,123 class on the betting card was for horse and gelding trotters, and Bestfriend Volo (Walner-Bank Of Newport), the 1-5 favourite, won it in 1:52.4 for Dunn and Nancy Takter.
Zeron had three victories on the card, leading the driver colony. Tim Tetrick, Tony Beltrami, Gingras, and Dunn each took home two victories. Travis Alexander and Burke both had training doubles. Three astute handicappers cashed in winning 20-cent Pick-8 tickets, bringing the total pool to almost $8,000 with $4,701 in "new money." On the 14-race program, all sources combined to wager $2,993,322 in total. At 6:20 p.m. on Friday, April 26, racing will continue.