East Rutherford, NJ — Under chilly and windy conditions, the GSY amateur pacing series continued Friday night (Nov. 22) at The Meadowlands.

Ten horses in the first race on the card left for position and trainer Rob Harmon sent his pacer, Wise Image, to the front and carved out a fast opening quarter in :27. He was able to maintain that lead until the half in :56.1 but that is when some of the closers came calling and challenged for the lead.

Bob Davis, driving Bettor Spirits N, was the first to pull and was able to collar the leader at the three-quarter pole in 1:24 and led the field into the stretch.

At this point horses were coming from all parts of the track and when the dust settled, Tony “The Judge” Beltrami, driving his own horse, Polak A, was able to make a sweeping four wide move from way back to the lead and took the victory by 2-3/4 lengths in 1:54.1. Jackamino, driven by Matt Zuccarello, finished second by saving ground inside and John Calabrese got up for third after being reunited with So Take That.

Beltrami used a different strategy this week by not leaving hard with his pacer and let some other horses do the heavy lifting up front and it did pay dividends for him and his backers. He paid a generous $39.20 for every $2 win ticket.

The 11-year-old classy gelding by Pacific Fella is owned by Beltrami and trained by Vincent Fusco Jr.

The last leg before the final will be next weekend at the Big M.