East Rutherford, NJ – It shouldn’t have come as a shock after Nandolo N won the featured $45,000 Open2/Open 1 Handicap for pacers Saturday night (March 4) at The Meadowlands. After all, he’d been down this road before.

Nandolo N and driver Jason Bartlett take the Saturday night feature at The Meadowlands. Lisa Photo.

It was on the first of two Sunday afternoon programs conducted this year at The Big M when Nandolo N won the feature in his last appearance at the mile oval, stopping the clock in an eye-popping 1:48.3 on Jan. 22, which remains the fastest mile of the year in the sport.

Driver Jason Bartlett kept Nandolo N in contention that day and did so again Saturday to give the 9-year-old his third win from five starts this year.

“My horse is real quirky,” said Bartlett. “Nine times out of 10, I don’t leave with him, but he dragged me out of there and it worked out.”

Nandolo N did leave quickly – against his driver’s wishes – and set up shop in the pocket behind 20-1 longshot Grand Cayman, who cut out fractions of :27, :54.1 and 1:21.4. While Nandolo N was in an ideal spot, 3-5 favorite Jimmy Freight was going a nightmare 10-hole trip, never seeing the rail before getting into a fourth-over flow down the backside.

Through the stretch, Nandolo N burst out of the pocket to go after the leader and did not collar a stubborn Grand Cayman until they were inside the sixteenth pole. Nandolo N won it by three-quarters-of-a-length, Grand Cayman was second with an airborne-through-the-stretch Jimmy Freight getting up for third. The time for the mile was 1:49.4.

“(Winning trainer) Shane (Tritton) always has his horses ready to race,” said Bartlett. “At the top of the lane I was confident. My horse doesn’t do anything fancy, never wins by more than one or two lengths. I was just worried where Jimmy (Freight) was.”

Nandolo N, a gelded son of Betterthancheddar-Midnight In Paris who is owned by Stephen Klunowski, paid $12.40 to win as the 5-1 second choice in the betting. He now has 25 wins from 94 lifetime starts and a bankroll that stands at $582,160.

BACK-TO-BACK $4 MILLION NIGHTS: After wagering reached an industry 2023-best $4.5 million on the Friday night (March 3) card, betting remained robust on Saturday as $4,062,855 was put in play on the 14-race program.

The weekend total of $8.5 million is noteworthy since only twice since the start of 2021 had the $8-million weekend barrier been busted, and those were both Hambletonian weekends.

Betting has now gone past the $3-million mark on all 17 Friday and Saturday night programs during 2023. A year ago, the $3-million plateau was reached 23 times over an 85-program schedule.

A LITTLE MORE: A double carryover of $45,254 enticed players to bet $118,217 in “new money” into the 20-cent Pick-6 pool, for a grand total of $163,471. Those with winning tickets cashed in for a handsome $6,411.52 after winner’s odds during the sequence were 7-2, 2-1, 5-1, 8-1, 9-2 and 3-1. … The sharp Rich And Miserable made it three wins in five starts this year in the $31,500 Open 1 Handicap for trotters. Dave Miller drove the 9-5 second choice for trainer Todd Buter. The time for the mile was 1:52.4. … Bartlett and Yannick Gingras led the driver colony with three winners apiece. … Edwin Quevedo, Tritton and Ron Burke all trained a pair to victory lane. … Racing resumes Friday (March 9) at 6:20 p.m.