East Rutherford, NJ – After winning two starts back at Harrah’s Philadelphia, and, in most recent, The Meadowlands, in wire-to-wire fashion, some might have thought Christopher Dance N was a one-dimensional type of performer.
Saturday night (Sept. 6) at The Big M, in the $17,500 featured high-end conditioned pace, the Jeff Cullipher trainee displayed a new weapon in his arsenal as he upped his winning streak to three. The Australian import’s first charted North American line came in a Meadowlands qualifier on Aug. 1, and after going off stride in his pari-mutuel debut in the States, it has been nothing but strawberries and cream ever since.
In the early going, it was Caveman A firing to the top in :26.4 before 5-1 second choice South Beach Star took the point. Driver George Napolitano Jr. kept the leader rolling, hitting the half in :54.3, as 1-9 public choice Christopher Dance N vacated the five-hole in search of a live tow.
That would come in the form of Camara Moment, who was flushed out of the three-hole by the eventual winner as South Beach Star reached three-quarters in 1:22.2. South Beach Star was clear off the far turn and was game to the wire, but could not deal with Christopher Dance N, who tipped off cover and easily made his way past the field racing in the three path through the stretch to score from off the pace.
Winning driver Johnathan Ahle had very little to do in the bike nearing the wire for a second straight Big M score.
The winning margin was 1-1/4 lengths in a mile that was timed in a lifetime-best 1:49.3. South Beach Star out-gamed Camara Moment in the race for place.
“I kind of assumed that I’d be coming off the pace,” said Ahle. “He can do it either way. We got a perfect second-over trip. It worked out well. It was good to follow a helmet. He’s a real nice horse and I wasn’t surprised that he won again.”
Christopher Dance N, a 5-year-old son of Sweet Lou-Just Dance, returned $2.20 to win while upping his lifetime stats to eight wins from just 16 lifetime starts, good for earnings of $163,225 for owner Pollack Racing.
RECORD BREAKER: Shane Tritton was by far the big cheese of the trainer colony, becoming the first conditioner this year to win four races on a Meadowlands card.
HISTORY MAKER: Shane’s wife, Lauren, had another historic night at the races. On Aug. 23, she became the first female driver in history to win three races on a Meadowlands program. Saturday night, Lauren raised that bar by piloting four to victory lane, three of them trained by her husband.
CARRYOVER CRAZY: There were no winning tickets sold on the 20-cent Pick-6, creating a carryover of $3,727 for Friday’s (Sept. 12) card.
In addition, nobody had a ticket that read 4-9-3-2-7 on the 14th race 10-cent Hi-5 (Pentafecta), meaning that wager will have a carryover of $18,290 heading into Friday’s finale.
A LITTLE MORE: All-source handle on the 14-race program totaled $2,207,197. … Racing resumes Friday at 6:20 p.m., marking the final weekend of live harness action. The “Monmouth at The Meadowlands” Thoroughbred turf meeting will then take over The Big M for four weeks before harness returns on Oct. 18.