East Rutherford, NJ — With two GSY events carded on Friday night (Feb. 17) at The Meadowlands, the pacers took center stage in the first and fifth races.

In the first race on the card, only two horses left hard for the lead and after some jostling it was John Calabrese with Jerrytone that set the tone and pace up front. After going a quick :28.2 second quarter, the 31-1 shot was primed on the lead in the stretch and opened up by two.

That was short lived as he was collared near the wire by another longshot, Stolen Art (William Clark Jr.) who ended up winning by just over a length. Calabrese held second and another double digit odds horse, Kingofmyheart (Joe Lee) rounded out a nice trifecta. The mile went in a slow 1:57.4.

These were the three longest shots in this compact field of eight, after two late scratches. Clark paid a generous $34.60 for every $2 win backer at the windows and the $1 trifecta paid $2,571.40.

Clark has come in with some longshots the past few years at the Big M and tonight was no different. He co-owns Stolen Art, an 8-year-old gelding along, with Mary Cuerbo and his trainer is Jake Leamon.

In the fifth race on the card, the top three lined up in post position order as Always A Panther (Lee) left again hard from the rail. He went a sensible :28.4 first quarter but had to go a :27.4 second quarter because longshot Sunshine’s Finest (Clark) was parked on the rim.

He couldn’t clear and this set up the closers in the stretch. In the end, it was Yayas Hot Spot N (Nicole Dicostanzo) coming from mid pack to win by a length over Bank Sea (Juan Cano) and Stick With Cramer (Roger Goldstein) who got up for third. The mile went in 1:56.

The winner is a 13-year-old gelding owned by Team Tritton Inc. and is trained by Shane Tritton.

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