by The Meadowlands Media Relations Department

East Rutherford, NJ — A beautiful Saturday (June 3) evening provided a perfect setting for the 2017 edition of JerseyFest at The Meadowlands, with a packed house taking in the finest food trucks in the area and a fantastic 12-race card.

Lisa Photo

Clear Vision gets the nod in a scintillating finish in the featured event at The Meadowlands.

The featured $20,000 Preferred Pace lived up to top billing, with the classy 11-year-old veteran, Clear Vision, escaping with a nose victory after an epic four-way slugfest through the stretch, equaling his career best in 1:48.2.

Clear Vision (Scott Zeron) left the gate aggressively from post four, before yielding to even-money favorite Mel Mara (Corey Callahan) just past the opening quarter in :26.3. Dealt a Winner (Andy Miller) settled in third in the early stages, while former New Zealand superstar, Christen Me N (Victor Kirby), got away fourth from the outside post in the field of seven.

They would continue to race like that through a half-mile in :54.1, and through the three-quarter marker in 1:22, before all three challengers fanned out off the cones turning for home to take their shot at the front-stepping Mel Mara. Ultimately, Clear Vision dug down to hit the line first, with only a neck separating the top four finishers. Mel Mara settled for second after putting up all the fractions, with Christen Me N finishing just better than Dealt A Winner for third.

It was a rebound win for Clear Vision after an impossible trip in last week’s $109,500 Molson Pace at Western Fair resulted in a disappointing seventh place finish. It was the 38th win of his career, pushing his career bounty to just shy of $3 million.

Total handle on the 12-race card was $2,995,672.

Live racing continues at The Meadowlands on Friday and Saturday nights with a first post of 7:15 p.m.