East Rutherford, NJ — The front end was not the place to be at The Meadowlands Friday night (April 19), at least not in the three MADC events as all winners came from mid-pack to find the top spot when it counted. What played a pivotal role in all races was the first half-mile and starts, which is common in these contests.

In the first race, it was a cavalry charge into the first turn, with horses parked on the outside two-three wide and before the field entered the stretch, there was even a four-wide move. This action made for an exciting race which found the betting choice, albeit at a $7.20 payout, in a wide open betting race, the eventual winner.

In Nevada N (Bruno Chiodo) struck the front in the shadow of the wire to win by a head over longshot Pan Street Usa (Cameron Capone), while Bilbo Hanover (Neil Glasser) picked up the show dough, after getting away tenth. This mile was timed in 1:56.2.

The winner is a 7-year-old gelding, owned by Chiodo Racing and is trained by Stacy Chiodo.

In the fifth race, it was a similar scenario, with several horses leaving for the lead. After what looked like a brush to the top by Atta Boy Dan (Tony Beltrami) just after the quarter pole, longshot Easy Check (Dakota Jackson) would not relinquish the top spot, causing a log jam that found six horses in the outer flow.

This unlikely situation proved to be key for the eventual winner Lachie Maguire N (Ryan Inglis), who got away fifth, finding a hole, and then moved quickly up to second as that outer flow was developing and then stalling before the stretch. He ended up holding on by less than a length for the victory over a hard charging Meet The Creeper (Chiodo), who almost pulled off a driving double on the card. Easy Check ended up holding on for third, completing a nice trifecta. The mile went in 1:54.2.

The winner is a 14-year-old gelding co-owned by Ultra Championship Racing and Winners Circle Racing. He is trained by Justin Sodano.

In the final MADC race of the evening, there wasn’t a speed duel but even though the leader did a good job rationing out the speed for the first half-mile, he wouldn’t be there at the finish. That’s because post time favorite Rock Jagger (John Calabrese) made a mid-race brush to clear to the lead at the top of the stretch and won by 2-1/2 lengths. He tripped the beam in 1:53.2. Longshot Big Bad Bill (Newton “Yogi” Sheridan) got up for second and Stone Cold Savage (James Slendorn) got up for third.

The winner is a 7-year old gelding owned by Stafford Racing Inc. and Brooke Kirin. He is trained by James Vermett.

The MADC pacers will be back Saturday night for two races on the card with a first post scheduled for 6:20 p.m.