East Rutherford, NJ — On a perfect Memorial Day weekend Saturday night that featured great weather and great racing, wagering went past the $3 million mark at The Meadowlands for the 12th time in 2022 from 39 total racing programs.

The total action on the 13-race card was $3,245,014 (good for a per race average of $249,616), as the sixth race registered the most play at $305,235, with $96,554 of that poured into the Early 50-cent Pick-4 pool.

The next three top single-race wagering numbers were registered in the fifth ($295,436), eighth ($274,468) and 10th ($299,771) races, with the 10th race Late 50-cent Pick-4 taking in $110,172.

It’s Academic Takes Feature: A fifth-place finish in the wake of Ecurie D DK’s world-record 1:49.1 effort in the Cutler last week proved to be more than enough of a tightener for It’s Academic, who easily bested six foes in the feature, the $31,500 Winners Over/Open for trotters.

It’s Academic and driver Yannick Gingras took the Saturday night feature at The Meadowlands. Lisa photo.

Driver Yannick Gingras, who teamed up with trainer Ron Burke to win four times last Saturday night, clicked with the 5-year-old son of Uncle Peter-Annapolis in 1:51, just two-fifths of a second off his lifetime best.

Kenziesky Hanover was away well from the start and led around the first turn as It’s Academic was fired up alongside. Kenziesky Hanover had a slight advantage at the quarter (:27.4) before It’s Academic took control shortly thereafter.

It’s Academic breezed through the half in :56 and three-quarters in 1:23.3 before recording a final quarter of :27.2 to record his 20th win from 50 lifetime starts. His bankroll now stands at $849,623.

Next Level Stuff, last in the early going, rallied uncovered to get second in a superb effort, finishing 1-3/4 lengths behind the winner. Kenziesky Hanover was third.

It’s Academic paid $2.60 to win as the 1-5 favorite.

A Little More: Two shrewd 20-cent Survivor Pick-7 bettors walked away with a big payday after the ninth race. The challenging sequence, which included three horses that won at odds of 6-1 or more, returned $5,975.66.

Tim Tetrick, Andy McCarthy and Dexter Dunn led the driver’s colony with two winners apiece.

Racing resumes Friday at 6:20 p.m.