East Rutherford, NJ — The first weekend of November at The Meadowlands brings the first stakes finals action of the 2018-2019 meeting, and in addition, simulcast players will get to watch and wager on the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which will be held at Louisville’s storied Churchill Downs.

On Friday, Churchill’s 10-race program gets underway at 12:55 p.m., with the first of five Breeders’ Cup races slated to go off at 3:21 p.m. The final BC event of the day — the $2 million Juvenile — finds trainer Bob Baffert with the one to beat, 8-5 early favorite Game Winner. Post time is 6:05 p.m.

Just 70 minutes later, the live 10-race harness card gets underway, featuring Pappy Go Go shooting for his third win in a row taking on some tough customers in the $20,000 Preferred Handicap for trotters in the third race.

Saturday morning at 10:45 a.m., a spectacular 12-race program at Churchill kicks off, featuring nine Breeders’ Cup events, the first of which has a post time of noon. The biggest race of the weekend — the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic — has a post time of 5:44 p.m. Accelerate, off three straight romps against Grade 1 stock, is the morning-line 5-2 choice.
That evening, the 11-race harness program begins at 7:15 p.m. and features four finals of the Kindergarten Classic for 2-year-olds, with purses that total almost $900,000.

As always, the Big M will offer its 50-cent Pick-5 (which has a guaranteed pool of $25,000) as well as the track’s signature 50-cent Pick-4 ($50,000 promise). Both bets have a low 15 percent takeout. Free program pages are available on the handicapping tab at www.ustrotting.com as well as at www.playmeadowlands.com.

McWicked Good News: Trainer Casie Coleman has announced on Facebook that Breeders Crown champion and Horse of the Year favorite McWicked will be returning for his 8-year-old season in 2019 despite interest from multiple breeding farms. He’ll conclude his 2018 campaign in the TVG final at The Meadowlands on Nov. 24.

The ‘Dunn’ Under Wonder: Australia native Dexter Dunn has been killing it of late, driving three winners not only last Saturday night but on the previous Saturday evening as well.

Over the same span, Monticello regular Mike Merton has guided five horses to victory lane.

A pair of trainers had triples last weekend: Tony Alagna on Friday and Bob Lounsbury on Saturday.

Party On: November marks the five-year anniversary of the opening of the new Meadowlands $100 million state-of-the-art grandstand. Patrons will get to join in on the fun as the track will offer specials all month long.

WHHC qualifier Saturday: The first of six Meadowlands qualifiers for the World Harness Handicapping Championship presented by DerbyWars.com is this Saturday night.

The qualifier has a $200 total fee ($100 entry plus a $100 real-money bankroll). The format requires players to bet a minimum of $10 win wagers on 10 Meadowlands races (players can bet more than 10 races). The top two finishers will earn spots in the WHHC with prize money to be paid out to the top 10 finishers. Players can register on-site Saturday up until 7:15 p.m.