by Dave Little, Meadowlands Media Relations
East Rutherford, NJ — According to her trainer, everything went wrong for Broadway Donna last year. That’s all in the past now.
The Jim Campbell trainee made her return to the races Saturday night (May 12), and she got rave reviews from all who saw her dominate the field in the feature at the Meadowlands, the $20,000 Preferred Handicap for trotters.
Lisa photo
Broadway Donna anddriver Dave Miller win the Saturday night feature at the Meadowlands, the$20,000 Preferred Handicap for trotters.
“Last year, she got off to a good start,” said Campbell. “But after we shipped her to Canada early in the season, everything went wrong. She got sick. She tied up. We had some starts where I thought she’d be good, but she wasn’t. Everything just kind of backfired on us.”
Campbell ended Broadway Donna’s one-win season in early October and did not bring her back until a pair of April qualifiers at the Big M. “She was pretty good in her last qualifier (on April 28),” said Campbell. “She was closing in on Hannelore Hanover. Dave (Miller) was very happy with her.”
Saturday night, Broadway Donna got away third, brushed up to the top at the three-eighths, sped clear of the field by almost three lengths at the head of the stretch before going on to an easy win in 1:51.4, just three-fifths of a second off her lifetime best.
“I’m going to race her every two or three weeks,” said Campbell. “And we sure did get off to a good start tonight.”
Broadway Donna returned $3.40 to win as the odds-on public choice, hitting the wire 1-1/2 lengths in front of Misslarose. Lagerfeld was third. The 5-year-old daughter of Donato Hanover has now won 18 of 33 lifetime starts and banked $1.28 million for owner Fashion Farms.
A LITTLE MORE: Trainer Blake MacIntosh had a big night, as he entered the evening with zero wins at the meeting before recording three on the program. … Meadowlands Pace hopeful Babes Dig Me beat up on an overmatched field in a division of the Escort for 3-year-old colts and geldings in 1:53.4 as the 1-9 favorite. … Dave Miller, Yannick Gingras, Jim Marohn Jr. and Scott Zeron each drove two winners. … All-source wagering on the card dipped to $1,824,071 due to a lack of entries. On the corresponding card a year ago, the total handle was $2.03 million as 95 starters competed on an 11-race card that averaged 8.6 starters per race. On Saturday night, only 71 starters took part in the 10-race program, an average of 7.1 per race. … There was only one player who survived nine legs in the 20-Cent Survivor Pick-10, and they walked away with $13,943. … The Late 20-Cent Jackpot Super High-Five failed to result in a single-ticket winner, bloating the carryover to $221,892. … Racing resumes at the Big M Friday at 7:15 p.m.
- Busy Saturday for Alagna at Big M (Friday, May 11, 2018)
Trainer Tony Alagna will send out three horses in each the Escort and Rainbow Blue series Saturday (May 12) at the Meadowlands Racetrack while also on the card two-time Dan Patch Award-winner Broadway Donna and stakes-winners Bill’s Man and Lagerfeld all will make their seasonal debuts in the Preferred Handicap Trot. Alagna’s entries in the Escort are Odds On Lauderdale (above), Legal Power and Babes Dig Me.