East Rutherford, NJ — Three amateur races once again were on tap Friday night (Nov. 19) at the Meadowlands and the action didn’t disappoint.

There was an “Italian” flavor in the air on this crisp fall Friday.  The first race featured 10 pacers vying for early command and several left the gate on a mission to get to the top.  After some traffic trouble in the first turn, Ferdinand A (William Harrison) reigned supreme for the first three-quarters of the mile, but the fractions of :27 and :55.2 took its toll.  The other reason being was the outer flow continued from beginning to end, causing the leader to race on and not have any breathers to slow the pace down the entire mile.

In the end, Bruce’s Magic (John Calabrese) made a three-wide move to get up in the final strides to a half-length victory over longshot Pirates Alley (Anthony Verruso) and another longshot Elysium Seelster (Bruno Chiodo) rounded out the Italian trifecta.  The mile was timed in 1:54.  The 9-year old gelding out of the mare Special Magic, who is sired by Rocknroll Hanover is owned by Bill Reepmeyer LLC out of NH and trained by Bruce Lauer.

The third race on the card featured nine trotters going to post and after the gate opened Cyclone Maximus (Jake Stillwell) left hard for the lead from his rail position and he was able to get there rather easily.  Winneress (Anthony Verruso) was able to squeeze into the pocket after being out for the first quarter of a mile.  Stillwell carved out sensible fractions and took the field into the stretch with the lead.

As his trotter tired some, he drifted off the pylons, allowing Swancredit, to swoop to the lead under a confident Melissa Arbia, who won by a half of length, for the second consecutive week in this race.  Verruso was able to get up for second late and Stillwell finished third, completing the second straight amateur race of the night with drivers of Italian heritage finishing in the top three.  The mile went in a moderate 1:57.4.  The 8-year old gelding out of the mare Nowerland Lightnin is sired by Swan For All and is owned by her husband, Joseph Bongiorno LLC out of NJ.  He is trained by Jennifer Bongiorno.

The final amateur race on the Meadowlands card found more of the same in the aggressive leavers and also the Italian driver influence on the race.  After an interesting first half mile, Fernado (Tony Ciuffetelli) came up the inside to take command and bottomed out the field.  He did have some traffic trouble down the back side and overcame a lengthy inquiry that acquitted him of any wrongdoing.  His pacer did not allow Gaius Crasstinus(Anthony Verruso) to clear to the lead and he left the longshot out on the limb for the first half mile, before he was able to secure a two hole just after the half.

He sped away to a 4-1/2 length victory with Watchmeneighneigh (Tony Beltrami) getting up for second and Galactic Galleon N (Jonathan Ahle) rounding out the trifecta.  Elrama N(Terry Di Cicco) rounded out the superfecta, thus giving more Italian influence on this race as well.  The mile went in 1:53.4.   The 7-year gelding is out of the mare Silver Street and is sired by Delmarvalous, and is owned , trained and driven by Ciuffetelli himself out of NY.

The amateur pacers and trotters will be back at the Meadowlands next Friday night at the Meadowlands with the first post scheduled for 6:20 p.m.