by Dave Little, Meadowlands Media Relations
East Rutherford, NJ — It was not the smoothest of trips, but it didn’t matter one bit to Inverse Hanover, who toyed with a half-dozen overmatched opponents in the Friday night (May 4) feature at the Meadowlands, a $17,500 conditioned pace for fillies and mares.

Lisa photo
Inverse Hanover and driver Brett Miller proved much the best in the Friday night feature at the Meadowlands.
The 4-year-old daughter of Somebeachsomewhere clearly benefited from her tightener over the track one week ago — a superb speed try where she was gunned down at the wire — and set sail for the lead, but with three leavers to her inside, Brett Miller had to ease off the gas just a bit before pushing down on the throttle again while parked to surge to the top at the three-eighths.
After hitting the half in :54.2, the Ed Hart trainee just kept on rolling, reaching three-quarters in 1:22.1 as longshot Best Of Jenna was towing 2-1 second choice Penpal into contention.
But Inverse Hanover still had more. The 4-5 public choice sprinted her final quarter in :27.1 — as Penpal came up empty racing three wide into the stretch, finishing sixth – and went on to a 1-1/4 length score in 1:49.2, lowering her previous lifetime best by two and two-fifth seconds. Clear Idea was second with Keystone Riptide third.
Inverse Hanover, who paid $3.60 to win, has now won six of eight starts this year for owners Thomas Pollack and Jeffrey Cullipher. Lifetime, she’s now 11-for-28 with earnings of just over $196,000.
A Little More: Wagering on the track’s signature Pick-4 bet remained strong. For a third straight program, the pool exceeded $100,000 when $113,837 was poured into the pot. The Early 20-cent Jackpot Super High-Five — which had a 14-1 shot and an 18-1 chance finish 1-2 — returned $9,833.00. The jackpot paid out two tickets due to a dead heat for third. The Late 20-cent Jackpot Super High-Five failed to result in a single-ticket winner, bloating the carryover to $211,753. All-source wagering on the nine-race program totaled $2,107,047. Racing resumes Saturday at 7:15 p.m. Defending Horse of the Year Hannelore Hanover makes her seasonal debut leaving from post 12 in the feature, the $182,500 Cutler Memorial for trotters. Gates open at the Big M at 9:30 a.m. for Kentucky Derby Day. Post time at Churchill Downs is 10:30 a.m. The Derby is set to go at 6:50 p.m.