East Rutherford, NJ — With two MADC races carded Friday night (Feb. 2) at the Big M, the weather was ideal for this time of year over the fast mile surface.

In the first race on the card it was the favorite, Way To Close (Tony Beltrami), who got the lead early and didn’t allow any of his competition to get close to him for the entire mile. He was able to set reasonable fractions en route to his 4-1/2 length victory, going the mile in 1:53.2. Takemetothelmit GB (Rob Harmon) caught the pocket sitter Kissinbythebeaches (Peter Kleinhans) right before the wire to finish second.

The winner is an 8-year-old gelding owned by Beltrami and his trainer is Maria Alvarez.

In the fifth race, the MADC pacers were scratched down to a field of eight but that didn’t stop several from leaving, including Mariner Seelster (Andrew Adamczyk), who got the lead and wouldn’t relinquish it to a parked out longshot Aintnobettor A (Newton “Yogi” Sheridan). These two tussled into the stretch but gave a perfect scenario for the closers to make a run at them for victory.

It was Trente Deo (Dakota Jackson) who came from last in the compact field of eight to gain the lead and victory by 2-3/4 lengths. He paced the mile in 1:53.3. The post time favorite, Rock On Line (Anthony Verruso), got up for second and a game Aintnobettor A hung on for third.

The winner is an 8-year old ridgling owned by Zachary Jackson and trained by Dakota Jackson.

The MADC will be back next Friday night for more exciting harness racing action. Post time is scheduled for 6:20 p.m.