by Dave Little, Meadowlands Media Relations

East Rutherford, NJ — Value players were loving life during The Meadowlands return to live racing last weekend (Oct. 12-13), as 16 post-time favorites took it on the chin over the course of the 21 races offered at the mile oval.

In addition, odds-on choices (those going off at odds of less than even-money) went only one-for-five on Friday before rebounding somewhat, hitting twice in three tries Saturday.

Overall, favorites scored at a paltry 23 percent.

The Big M’s popular signature wager, the 50-cent Pick-4 (which features a low 15 percent takeout and a guaranteed pool of $50,000), saw total pools of $70,276 on Friday and $66,922 Saturday. Handicappers who were sharp enough to use Stratocaster (13-1) Saturday night were rewarded with a $667.95 payout even though the biggest-priced winner among the other three horses in the sequence returned $7.20.

Andy Miller had the hot hand opening weekend, driving five winners. He was followed by Andy McCarthy (four), Tim Tetrick (two) and Mike Merton (two). Julie Miller, Mark Silva and Linda Toscano all had training doubles.

Racing will be conducted this Friday and Saturday with a first race post time of 7:15 p.m.

The Kindergarten Classic continues Friday with eight divisions, with the series’ finals slated for Saturday (Nov. 3).

Cup Runneth Over: This year’s edition of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships will be conducted at Churchill Downs, with all of the action to be simulcast to the Big M.

The dates for the two-day event are Nov. 2 (post time, 12:55 p.m.) and Nov. 3 (post time, 10:45 a.m.).

It All Comes Down: The Breeders Crown at Pocono kicks off this weekend with 10 eliminations on Friday and 14 more on Saturday. Watch and wager on all 24 races at Big M. First race post time is 7 p.m.

Breeders Crown bettors will get some big-time bang for their buck as all wagers for these programs as well as the finals on Oct. 27 have a takeout that will be reduced to 15 percent.