East Rutherford, NJ — With two GSY events carded for Friday night (Feb. 10) at The Meadowlands, it was the first week back after last week’s cancellation.

In the first race on the card, only two horses left hard and nobody was given a parking ticket going into the first quarter. Always A Panther (Joe Lee) took command in a tepid :28 first quarter and controlled the pace from the top spot for the entire mile.

He carved out sensible fractions and this paid dividends as he ended up going wire-to-wire for the victory in 1:54.2. He really had no serious challengers and was able to win by just over a length over Mv Ok Palacio Br (David Glasser) and Takeittotheface (Dave Yarock) who rounded out the trifecta.

After the race, Lee stated, “I’ve been racing this horse from off the helmet and tonight I wasn’t going to leave either because he is better from off the pace and hadn’t raced in three weeks. Once the gate opened and after about 12 steps nobody was leaving so I said the hell with it and let me put him on top and see how he does.”

Lee paid a generous $11.60 for all his backers at the windows and this was the third consecutive GSY race to post a double digit winner.

Always A Panther is a 5-year-old gelding owned by Lee and trained by his good friend Buzzy Sholty.

In the fifth race on the card, several left hard for the lead and after a brisk :27.1 first quarter Mister Daytona N (Tony Beltrami) was able to gain command over Claytons Bettor N (James Slendorn) and the field entered the half and three-quarter pole the same way. That’s because Sports Hero (Nicole Dicostanzo) was handed a parking ticket and couldn’t get to the top.

As the field entered the stretch, Slendorn squeezed off the cones, which allowed William Mcwhiskers (Peter Kleinhans) to hug the rail and rally deep in the stretch for the win. Beltrami held off Slendorn for second. The mile went in a fast 1:52.4.

William Mcwhiskers is a 7-year-old gelding owned by Kleinhans and trained by John McDermott.

The GSY is scheduled to be back in action next Friday at The Meadowlands. Post time is scheduled for 6:20 p.m.