East Rutherford, NJ — With just two MADC races carded on Friday night (Dec. 22), a few days before Christmas, both events featured horses from way off the pace winning as the front end wasn’t where you wanted to be. A majority of the early races found horses coming from mid-pack to near the back at the start of the race, who charged home through the long Big M stretch.

In the first race on the card, it was longshot Cloudbreak (Kubi Erzene) who found his way to the top through a :27.4 first quarter. He carved out some sensible fractions, but when the field hit the stretch it was the outer flow and horses that started from post positions eight and nine, got away in their spots near the back, that made grinding moves three- and four-wide to reach the top two finish spots in the end.

Post time favorite Whammer Jammer (James Slendorn) actually got away in eighth, and found himself grinding on the outside just after the quarter pole. He was able to find cover at the half-mile stanza and these three made their way towards the longshot leader. In the stretch it was Slendorn’s horse who was too good, holding on to a length victory over Rock On Line (Tony Verruso), while the first over horse and longshot Aintnobettor A (Tony Ciuffetelli) rounded out the trifecta. This mile was timed in 1:54.3.

The winner is a 4-year-old gelding owned by Slendorn and is trained by Kelvin Harrison.

The fourth race found a similar scenario as the first race, with sensible fractions being set by longshot Paprike Blue Chip (William Clark Jr.). He carried the field into the stretch but with the outer flow moving around a parked horse, it was Takeittotheface (Matt Zuccarello) who garnered the lead but only for a short time as putting on the pressure just off his flank was Aryiana Star (David Yarock) and these two dueled down the lane. It was in the late stretch that Meet The Creeper (Bruno Chiodo) made a bold move from last and was near the grandstand to collar both horses for the victory by over two lengths. Yarock got up in the final stride to nose out Zuccarello for second. The mile went in 1:56.

The winner is a 6-year-old gelding owned by Chiodo Racing and is trained by Stacy Chiodo.

The MADC will be back next Friday night for more exciting harness racing action. Post time is scheduled for 6:20 p.m.