from the Meadowlands Media Relations Department

East Rutherford, NJ — Starting Friday (Feb. 3), the Meadowlands Pick-5 will have a $20,000 guaranteed pool on all racing nights. A 50-cent base wager, the Pick-5 starts in Race 1.

On Saturday (Jan. 28), the Meadowlands Pick-5 handled a record $96,962 helped largely by a $16,400 carryover heading into the card. The average 50-cent payout has been $1,717 so far in 2012 and there have been two carryovers through the first 11 race cards.

Nominations close Feb. 1 for Rags To Riches Series

The new Rags To Riches series for claiming horses will kick off Thursday (Feb. 16) at the Meadowlands.

The conditions call for 3-year-olds and up who have started for a base claiming price of $10,000 or less once in their last four starts up to and including Jan. 20, 2012. A nomination fee of $550 for the Rags To Riches is due by Wednesday (Feb. 1). There is a $550 entry fee for the first leg only.

The series will be raced in a bracket format, with the top finishers from the first leg moving on to the next leg and the top 10 reaching the $100,000 (est.) final on Saturday (March 10). Purses for the three scheduled legs are $10,000, $12,500 and $15,000. There is no claiming during the series.

“The Rags To Riches enables the small-time owner to participate at a major level with a big purse up for grabs in the series final,” noted Meadowlands Racing Secretary Peter Koch.

Click here for an application.