from Meadowlands Media Relations
East Rutherford, NJ — The entry box for opening weekend of the Meadowlands’ 2004 fall harness meet was met with a strong response by horsemen on Tuesday morning.
A total of 190 horses were entered for Friday night’s 12-race card, which features four divisions of the Charles Singer Memorial Series for three-year-old trotters, while 152 were entered for the 13-race Saturday program, which is highlighted by five divisions of the Oil Burner Series for sophomore pacers.
The 17-date Meadowlands fall meet runs from November 19 to December 18 on a Wednesday through Saturday night schedule. Post time is 7:30 p.m. each night. The track is dark for Thanksgiving.
“I was very pleased with the response to the first leg of the Charles Singer Memorial and The Oil Burner,” said Director of Racing Tad Stockman. “Both late closers attracted a very good group of three year olds. The older horses were a little light, but I went with a few of the upper level races with less than full fields. I hope this will show the horsemen we are committed to racing horses from the top classes right through to the bottom.”
The Charles Singer Memorial and the Oil Burner both feature two preliminary legs and a final. The $51,300 Singer Final and $60,000 Oil Burner Final will be contested on Saturday, December 4.
Fall Final Four purses each to meet or exceed $200,000
Purses for the Fall Final Four, the quartet of stakes finals for two-year-olds to be contested on Saturday, December 4, will each meet or exceed $200,000.
The races are the highlight of the November 19 through December
18 harness meet and have a history of helping decide end-of-year honors among freshman trotters and pacers.
“Looking over the eligibles for the Fall Final Four, all will be at, or above, the $200,000 purse threshold,” said Director of Racing Tad Stockman. The eliminations for the trotting events – the Goldsmith Maid for fillies and the Valley Victory for colts – take place on Friday, November 26. The pacers have their elims for the Three Diamonds for fillies and the Governor’s Cup for colts on Saturday, November 27. All four finals will be held on Saturday, December 4. Nominations for the Fall Final Four races closed on July 1 and the last sustaining payment was collected on September 1. The Valley Victory has 50 eligibles, the Goldsmith Maid has 41, the Governor’s Cup has 41 and the Three Diamonds has 37.
Windsong’s Legacy, Bunny Lake honored in retirement ceremonies
Windsong’s Legacy, the 2004 Hambletonian champion and Trotting Triple Crown winner, and Bunny Lake, the 2001 Horse of the Year, will be honored in retirement ceremonies during opening weekend of the 2004 fall harness meet at the Meadowlands.
Bunny Lake, the second richest female pacer of all time with $2,843,476 in earnings, will be feted after the first race on Friday night, November 19. Trained by John Stark Jr. and owned by Wendy and Skip Spring and Stark, the six-year-old daughter of Precious Bunny – Lake Nona won 47 of her 93 career starts and took a mark of 1:49. The Springs and Stark made the decision after the mare’s race on October 9 at the Red Mile.
Ironically, that race also marked the final start for Bunny Lake’s frequent nemesis Eternal Camnation.
“I didn’t like the way she came off the track (after her last race),” said Wendy Spring, who resides in Johnstown, New York. “She wasn’t walking the way we would have liked. When she crossed the wire fourth, we all just looked at each other and knew. (After) the back-to-back 1:49 miles in Canada, we’re just not sure how much that may have taken out of her. The original plan was for her to go to Walnut Hall and relax for several months there, then come back next year. But she told us it was time. There’s no way we’re going back on this. It’s time for her to be a mommy.”
At the Meadowlands, Bunny Lake captured the Mistletoe Shalee and Tarport Hap as a three-year-old in 2001. She went on to win 2002 Classic Series Final and was second in the 2004 Breeders Crown Mares Pace. Bunny Lake also finished second in the 2003 Breeders Crown held at Woodbine.
Windsong’s Legacy, whose $1.7 million in earnings this year was a single-season record for a trotter of any age, will be honored after the first race on Saturday night, November 20.
Trained and driven by Trond Smedshammer, Windsong’s Legacy became the first Trotting Triple Crown winner since Super Bowl (1972) when he captured the Hambletonian at the Meadowlands, the Yonkers Trot at Hawthorne and the Kentucky Futurity at the Red Mile. In addition, the three-year-old son of Conway Hall was victorious in the Goodtimes at Woodbine, Stanley Dancer at the Meadowlands and the Canadian Trotting Classic at Mohawk.
Windsong’s Legacy ended his career with a record of 10 wins, two seconds and four thirds in 17 starts and a bankroll of $1,744,644. The colt was owned by Ted Gewertz of New York, New York; Patricia Spinelli of Oyster Bay Cove, New York; Ann Brannvoll of Suedsmo, Norway; and Fredrik Lindegaard of Lorenskog, Norway. Windsong’s Legacy will stand in New Jersey, performing stallion duties at Perretti Farms in Cream Ridge.
“I think his best race was either the Goodtimes Final or the Kentucky Futurity,” Smedshammer said. “The first time I knew I had a real horse was after the Goodtimes. There is respect for him, but I think it might grow as time goes on and people realize what he accomplished. He went six-for-six in stakes finals and won the Triple Crown. That’s just about unheard of.”
Windsong’s Legacy’s achievements reached beyond the racetrack as well. Smedshammer and the colt’s owners donated $25,000 of Windsong’s Legacy’s Hambletonian winnings to the American Cancer Society to honor the memories of Trond’s father, Lars, and Patricia Spinelli’s husband, Ron, who both lost battles with lung cancer.