Ken Weingartner

Hightstown, NJ — Trolley is back on track. Trainer Erv Miller just hopes he can stay there.

A 6-year-old male trotter, Trolley has won four of six races since returning from a 13-month absence because of a broken coffin bone. He won last week’s Preferred Handicap at the Meadowlands by three-quarters of a length over Muscle Diamond and is the 5-2 second choice on the morning line in Friday’s (Jan. 18) $21,000 Preferred Handicap at the Big M. Melady’s Monet, who brings a three-race win streak to the event, is the 9-5 favorite.

Friday’s 14-race card begins at 7:15 p.m. (EST).

“Trolley is on his way back, I hope,” Miller said. “If he stays healthy, we’ll see where he can go. I think we’ll see a pretty good horse. He can really go. He’s showed the talent off-and-on and we’ve just been waiting on him.”

Trolley won last week’s Preferred Handicap at the Meadowlands by three-quarters of a length over Muscle Diamond. Lisa photo.

For his career, Trolley has won 12 of 26 races and earned $302,959 for owners Michael Anderson, Leland Mathias, Greg Gillis, and Andy Willinger. He started a total of only seven times at ages 2 and 3, but was a two-time winner on the Pennsylvania-stakes circuit and runner-up to Southwind Frank in the 2016 Beal Memorial. As a 4-year-old, he won six of 13 races and established his career mark of 1:51.4 at the Meadowlands.

“He was a real immature horse early,” Miller said. “He was a big horse — big, strong horse — he just wasn’t ready to go young. As he got older, he kept getting better and better. He showed some real talent so we kept hanging on with him. Hopefully he’s going to pay us back for waiting on him.

“We tried standing him (at stud) last year. But if he holds up for us, we’ll be glad it didn’t work out. He’s sure coming back good so far.”

Trolley, driven regularly by Marcus Miller, is a son of Donato Hanover out of Lakeside Bride. He was purchased as a yearling for $30,000 at the 2014 Lexington Selected Sale.

“He wasn’t a real pricey horse because he was a little oversized for a young horse,” Miller said. “He’s made money along the way. It’s not like he’s not been paying his way.

“He’s a nice horse to be around. He gets around real good. He’s versatile. He can race from the back or on the front, it doesn’t matter which way you race him. He’s a big, strong horse.”

Miller will be watching Trolley in the coming weeks to determine how to stake the horse when payments are due in February.

“If he stays healthy until staking time until February, we’ll be putting him in some stakes races,” Miller said. “I think he’s a top horse if we get enough races in him and he stays sound. Right now he seems as sound as he’s ever been in his life. Hopefully that will keep going. Hopefully we’re ready to rock along.”

For Friday’s complete Meadowlands entries, click here.