by James Witherite, Meadowlands racing media

East Rutherford, NJ — A pair of Kindergarten Classic preliminary events headlined the Friday (Oct. 28) undercard at Meadowlands Racetrack, with 2-year-old trotting fillies vying for $10,000 in the night’s opener and freshman trotting colts and geldings competing for an identical purse in the third event.

In the filly division, Feed Your Head ($7.20) pushed to the fore on approach to the backstretch, clearing Overdraft Volo (Andy Miller) just upon completing a :29.1 first quarter mile. From that point, the daughter of Muscle Hill and Flawless Bluestone refused to relinquish control, evading her eight foes by two lengths and earning a lifetime mark of 1:55.4 in the act. Overdraft Volo parried a late bid from Crann Tara (Tim Tetrick) to defend the runner-up spot by another three-quarters of a length. Yannick Gingras once again drove Feed Your Head for Mellby Gard, Inc. and trainer Jimmy Takter.

New Jersey Viking ($5.60) similarly made virtually all the pace to capture the Kindergarten split for colts and geldings, edging away from pocket rival Explosive Ridge to prevail in 1:55.3. The son of Muscle Hill and Hall of Wishes achieved the lead after being strung out by Explosive Ridge (David Miller) on the first turn, and New Jersey Viking would subsequently parry a challenge from that foe in upper stretch under moderate encouragement from Andy McCarthy while International Moni (Scott Zeron) rallied belatedly to just miss Explosive Ridge for second.

New Jersey Viking scored his fifth career win by three lengths for trainer Åke Svanstedt and owners Knutsson Trotting, Inc. and Jeff Gural’s Little E, LLC.

The Kindergarten Classic finals, with trotters vying for a combined $350,000 in estimated purses, are scheduled for next Saturday (Nov. 5) at the Big M.

Eight Breeders Crown events remain in the balance on Saturday evening’s (Oct. 29) card, with 2- and 3-year-olds in all divisions competing for a combined $4.4 million. First post is slated for 6:35 p.m.