East Rutherford, NJ — The Meadowlands Amateur Drivers Club was back in action Friday (Dec. 13) with two pacing events resulting in some rarities occurring. For the first time in a long time, both post time favorites won, but what made it even more rare was that they both paid the same exact amount ($5.40) for a $2 win bet.
In the first race on the card, it was a tussle to the top spot at the start. Long shot Never Easy Z Tam (Alex Goldin) was parked by Ferdinand A (James Slendorn), setting up for the closers to emerge late. A patient drive by the even-keeled Bruno Chiodo, aboard Meet The Creeper, paid dividends, as he followed live cover before tipping three-wide heading into the stretch to overpower Bloodhound (Mark Silva), who held second, to win by just over 2 lengths in 1:53.3. The veteran 14-year-old Iammrbrightside N (Anthony Verruso) rounded out the trifecta.
Stacy Chiodo trains Meet The Creeper, a 7-year-old gelding owned by Chiodo Racing LLC.
In the sixth race, early speed and another horse hung on the limb proved to be the factors in allowing closers to once again gain the top three placings. Passa-Grille Beach (Cameron Capone) seemed to carve out a sensible first half mile, but amid temperatures below freezing, this wasn’t enough. With a ton of flow and horses on the outer rim for the entire mile, the horses that got away in the last three spots at the first call ended up being the top three finishers. Whammer Jammer (James Slendorn) used a well-timed three-wide move on the final turn before holding off Yer So Bad (William Harrison) for a majority of the long Big M stretch. After the photo sign and win photo was examined, Slendorn held on by the slimmest of margins in 1:53.2. Lovethewayyoulie (Bruno Chiodo) was just a length back to round out the trifecta.
Slendorn also owns Whammer Jammer, a 5-year-old gelding trained by Kelvin Harrison.
The MADC series will be back on Saturday (Dec. 14) for a single race; first post time is scheduled for 6:20 p.m.