by The Meadowlands Media Relations Department

East Rutherford, NJ — The purse was only $20,000 and beforehand, most would not have guessed the race would not be especially memorable, but Joe Bongiorno and B Yoyo made sure nobody would ever forget the sixth race at The Meadowlands on Friday night (June 9).

Lisa Photo

B Yoyo establishes a new world record of 1:50.2 for older trotting geldings at The Meadowlands on Friday evening.

B Yoyo, a 7-year-old Striking Sahbra gelding, ripped out of the pocket to go by the heavily favored Gural Hanover and win going away in 1:50.2. The final time is a world record for an older gelding over a mile track.

“He is one of the toughest horses I have ever sat behind,” said Bongiorno. “I am totally speechless. I have never been more proud of a horse, he deserves it so much. He is all heart. I never even popped the earplugs. I am really grateful to be able to sit behind such a nice horse in a world record mile.”

Gural Hanover (Jordan Stratton) made the lead from his outside post through an opening quarter mile in :27 while B Yoyo happily settled into the pocket. Gural Hanover continued to lead the single file field through a half mile in :55 and three-quarters in 1:23.1. From there it was all B Yoyo who tipped out of the pocket and finished off the record mile with a :27 final quarter.

Earlier in the night, veteran horseman Todd Buter won his 1,000th career race when Stitch In Time won the opener. Buter’s son Tyler was in the sulky for the milestone victory.

Eric Abbatiello closed out the card sweeping the final three races with winners that paid $16.80, $21.40 and $14.60.

Total handle on the 10-race card was $2,137,910. Racing resumes Saturday night. Post time is 7:15 p.m.

For more information, visit www.playmeadowlands.com.