East Rutherford, NJ — After 2019 saw him crack the top 10 in the standings at the top venue in the sport, driver Tyler Buter no doubt had a resolution to win even more races at The Meadowlands during 2020.

He’s off to a good start.

Buter, who had a career-best $5.6 million in earnings a year ago, scored three times on the Thursday (Jan. 2) program to get his Winter meeting at the mile oval off to a good start.

Spilling The Beans took the ninth race at The Meadowlands Thursday night, giving driver Tyler Buter three winners on the card. Lisa photo.

The 34-year-old Michigan native snagged his first winner of the night with the Bob Lounsbury-trained Summer Rock in a filly and mare pace for TrackMaster 74.5 or less as the 7-5 favorite in the fourth race in 1:53.4.

Buter, who won 47 times at the Big M during 2019, made a huge move on the far turn to open up a big lead in the fifth race with Walks Of Life before holding off the late-charging Sir Richie N by a diminishing neck in 1:53.1 for trainer Besim Odza in a $7,500 claiming pace as the 5-2 second choice.

The third and final score for Buter came in the ninth race behind Spilling The Beans, who stopped the clock in 1:54 as the 6-5 public choice for trainer William Adamczyk in another filly and mare pace for TrackMaster 74.5 or less.

A Little More: There were only two winning favorites on the card and Buter drove them both.

Marcus Miller and Austin Siegelman each got 2020 off to a great start with two winners apiece.

The 50-cent Pick-4 came back $18,065 after a sequence that saw winner’s odds of 14-1 (Siegelman), 18-1 (Greg Merton), 6-5 (Buter) and 10-1 (Siegelman). The 10th-race 20-cent Jackpot Super High-Five failed to yield a single-ticket winner, bloating the carryover for Friday’s 14th race to $87,287.

All-source handle for the 10-race card was $1,665,191.

Racing resumes Friday at 7:15 p.m.