from Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association
Eliminations for the Fall Final Four, a quartet of rich stakes finals for two-year-olds that is the highlight of the Meadowlands’ fall meet, will be drawn on Tuesday morning.
The eliminations for the trotting events – the Goldsmith Maid for fillies and the Valley Victory for colts – take place on Friday night. The pacers have their elims for the Three Diamonds for fillies and the Governor’s Cup for colts on Saturday.
As part of a new condition that will extend to major stakes finals at the Meadowlands, elimination winners will get to pick their post positions for the finals to be contested on Fall Final Four Night, Saturday, December 4.
The quartet of two-year-old stakes has long helped to determine divisional honorees. The Governor’s Cup has spawned an impressive list of pacing colt champions, including Barberry Spur, Artsplace, Western Hanover, The Big Dog, Sealed N Delivered, Island Fantasy, Tyberwood, Bettor’s Delight, Allamerican Native and I Am A Fool.
Miss Easy, Immortality and Chippie’s Ruler are among the pacing filly champions to have raced in the Three Diamonds. Valley Victory winners to earn post-season honors were Royal Strength, Wesgate Crown, Donerail and Lindy Lane. The Goldsmith Maid helped produced trotting filly champions CR Kay Suzie, Dream of Joy, Syrinx Hanover and Pizza Dolce.
MEADOWLANDS DARK ON THANKSGIVING; ONLINE WAGERING OPEN
Although the Meadowlands will be closed on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 25, online account wagering will be available on eight simulcast tracks at www.4njbets.com.
The featured tracks, with post times, are: Aqueduct, Calder and Pimlico (11 a.m.), Churchill (11:30 a.m.), Woodbine (12:55 p.m.), Fair Grounds (1:30 p.m.), and Golden Gate and Hollywood (2 p.m.).
To sign up for an account, go to www.4njbets.com.
The Meadowlands will reopen on Friday, November 26 with a full menu of simulcasting, commencing with Churchill at 11:30 a.m., and a program of live harness racing, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
HOLMES & COONEY TO HOST F.I.S.T. CIGAR NIGHT AT PEGASUS
F.I.S.T. [Fighter’s Initiative for Support and Training] will hold its next fundraiser, a Smokin’ Holmes & Cooney Cigar Night hosted by boxing legends Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney, in the Meadowlands’ Pegasus Restaurant from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursday, December 2.
Tickets are $125 per person and includes a gourmet buffet dinner and open bar. There will be a sports memorabilia auction, celebrity appearances and an exciting program of live harness racing.
For tickets, call 1-888-765-FIST. Major credit cards accepted.
AROUND THE MEADOWLANDS FOR NOVEMBER 20, 2004
The Meadowlands Racetrack will be closed on Sunday, November 21, due to the New York Giants home game against the Atlanta Falcons. A full slate of simulcasting will be available online at www.4njbets.com for account wagers or at Monmouth Park in Oceanport.
Meadowlands leading driver Ron Pierce became only the second driver in harness history to surpass $11.6 million in single season earnings with his victory with Mystical Sunshine in the sophomore trotting fillies division of the Matron Stakes at Dover Downs on November 17. John Campbell is the only other driver to reach the milestone. Pierce has dominated in stakes races across North America this year, winning 14 finals worth more than $200,000 and six worth more than $500,000. His half-million dollar or more victories include Breeders Crown wins with Village Jolt, Rainbow Blue and Boulder Creek, the Maple Leaf Trot with Mr Muscleman, World Trotting Derby with Tom Ridge and Fan Hanover with Rainbow Blue. He won four divisions of the Matron Stakes at Dover Downs with Rainbow Blue, Mystical Sunshine, Jailhouse Joey and Fast Ruffles. From 1975 to 2003, his only Matron win came with I Am A Fool in the 2003 freshman pacing colts division.
Cat Manzi, 54, ranks as the third leading dash-winning driver in North America, making him the only driver over 50 in the top 20. Manzi is has $6.8 million banked so far in 2004. He scored his first million-dollar victory with Mantacular in the North America Cup at Woodbine in June.
Steve Elliott, who won the 2004 Breeders Crown Three-Year-Old Trot with Yankee Slide, has recently added another notable trotter to his barn, ENS Snapshot. ENS Snapshot earned more than $300,000 and captured a Hambletonian elimination during his three-year-old season in 2002. He was brought back to race at four, but suffered a suspensory injury early in the year and was turned out for more than a year to recover. “I got him after Harrisburg [Sale in November],” Elliott said.
“He was bought for stud, but the owners asked me to give him a chance and see what I can do. I like him; he’s got lots of class. He hasn’t raced in eight months. He could be a serious trotter. I’ll probably try and get him ready for the Su Mac Lad.”
Elliott also has Burning Point, the 2003 Three-Year-Old Filly Pacer of the Year, prepping for a return to the races in 2005. “She’ll get a little break now,” he said. “She is definitely racing at five.
She had a good, but unlucky, year. If she left with Bunny Lake, she’d get parked 26 [seconds] to the quarter. If she didn’t leave, they’d go 27.4. [It was] that kind of year.”
Don Boss Vita, the only trotter with three sub-1:53 victories at the Meadowlands in 2004, will be pointed for a return to the races next spring, according to trainer Kevin Lare. Lare claimed the trotter for $59,000 last February at the Meadowlands. The five-year-old won eight of 17 starts this season. “We decided to bring him back slowly, get him ready for the bigger races,” Lare said. “We’re aiming for May with him.”