from the Meadowlands Media Relations Department

East Rutherford, NJ — Trainer Kyle Spagnola sent three trotters to the gate on Friday night (Nov. 27) at The Meadowlands and all three found the winner’s circle.

Two of the wins came with Andrew McCarthy in the bike. The first, Ulster, romped by a dozen lengths in the third race conditioned trot, winning in a lifetime best 1:53.1, while Keystone Thomas was a wire-to-wire winner in 1:54.3 in the fifth race conditioned trot.

Spagnola wasn’t done, as he sent out Waiting On A Woman, the prohibitive 3-5 choice in the $17,000 featured trot in the eighth race and the favorite did not disappoint. After brushing to the lead, past fractions of :27.2 and :56.1, Waiting On A Woman and driver Corey Callahan took on the challenge of Lady Windsor around the far turn. But when the favorite reached three-quarters in 1:25, it was clear that he had plenty left in the tank and the 7-year- old gelding powered away with a :27.3 final quarter to win going away by just over three lengths in 1:52.3. The final time was just one-fifth of a second off his lifetime mark.

The win was the 50th in the career of Waiting On Woman, who now has career earnings of more than $373,000. Waiting On A Woman is owned by Michael Polansky.

The win was one of three races captured by Corey Callahan through the first eight races.

Spagnola now sports a record of five wins from his first seven starts at the 2015-2016 Meadowlands meet.

Jerseylicious chases down Radar Contact

The seventh race conditioned mare pacing event was filled with mares with stakes experience. Radar Contact was a strong 3-5 favorite, but on paper there was competition in the form of Jerseylicious and it played out that way on the racetrack as well.

Radar Contact was quarter-moved to the lead by John Campbell past the first point of call in :27 and she would hold that lead into the stretch, through fractions of :55.1 and 1:24. Meanwhile, Jerseylicious was sitting mid-pack and committed first over down the backstretch as Radar Contact blazed the way.

As the field approached the stretch, Jerseylicious had room to tuck behind the favorite and did so until the middle of the stretch, when Callahan showed his mare racetrack again and she responded to that move by accelerating late, chasing down the favorite to win in 1:51.2.

For Jerseylicious, the win marked the 15th victory in her 62 race career and sent her earnings past $636,000. She is trained by Wayne Givens for owners Legacy Racing of Delaware Inc., Pamela Curran and Niel Gargiulo.

Takter with another promising young trotter

The stakes season may have come to an end, but Jimmy Takter is still winning promising races with young trotters. In the first race on Friday night at The Meadowlands, the Takter trained Massive Clout (Muscle Massive), parlayed a pocket trip into a pylon skimming win by the narrowest of margins over Moulin Rouge who defeated this condition one week ago.

Massive Clout and Corey Callahan sat comfortable in the pocket behind pacesetter Barnaby Rudge through fractions of :29.3, :59.1 and 1:29.1. Meanwhile, the even-money favorite Moulin Rouge was tracking in a live outer flow and loomed boldly three-wide off the far turn and appeared poised to blow by, but Massive Clout found room at the pylons and was full of trot as well.

The pair of trotters raced down to the wire together, with Massive Clout escaping with a nose victory in 1:57.2 in a mild upset at odds of 5-1. Moulin Rouge was second with Barnaby Rudge third. In the field of 10 trotters, there were three 2-year-olds and they ironically comprised the trifecta.

Massive Clout is a homebred for Brixton Medical who co-owns the colt with Christina Takter.

The winning time of 1:57.2 was a lifetime best performance and was the second consecutive win for the son of Hambletonian winner Muscle Massive who now has two wins from three starts.

GSY Amateur Trot

Robert Krivelin’s name has been one of the most popular among amateur drivers for years and that name reigned supreme again with an 8-1 upset in the GSY Amateur Trot with Chocolate Xplosion. Krivelin, who also trains the 4-year-old gelded son of Chocolatier, turned a pocket trip into a 1:56.3 victory, a lifetime best performance for Chocolate Xplosion. Crazed N Lindy rallied from well-back for Peter Kleinhans to be second with Jack’s Reef and Hannah Miller third.

The win was the 184th amateur driving victory in the career of Robert Krivelin, with earnings of more than $1.2 million.

Total handle for the 13-race Friday card was $2,642,922, a seven percent increase over this same Friday last year. On-track handle also showed slight gains. The guaranteed pools performed well on Friday, with the Pick-5 totaling $44,233, the early Pick-4 handling $47,983 and the late Pick-4 reaching $78,955.

Both jackpot super high five carryovers continued to grow as the fifth race now stands at $17,625.09 and the last race now at $18,381.34.

Racing resumes on Saturday with a 13-race card set to begin at 7 p.m.