East Rutherford, NJ — With the rain clearing out before the first post, three MADC events were held on Friday night (Feb. 23) at The Meadowlands.

As spring is around the corner, the action is heating up and not one of the three favorites won. On the lead wasn’t the place to be for these races as all early pacesetters weren’t in contention in the final stages of each mile event.

In the first race, it was the post time favorite Laneside Logic Gb (Dein “The Dream” Spriggs) who grinded to the top in :28.1 He controlled the race from there and handed out the parking ticket to Aryiana Star (David Yarock) and as the field turned for home, it was where the action heated up. It was Milady Denver A, who popped the pocket for Dakota “Action” Jackson and she was able to sprint clear to a convincing 6-3/4 length victory in a mile timed in 1:54.4. It was a rail skimming ride by longshot Cloudbreak (“Mighty” Matt Zuccarello) who got up for second over the fading Spriggs, who held on for third.

The winner is a 14-year-old mare owned by Ettore Annunziata Rev Trust and is trained by Michael Annunziata.

In the fifth race, it was a fired-up Ferdinand A (James “Slim” Slendorn) who got to the lead in :27.1. He held the lead as the field of 10 entered the stretch but the closers were coming from all angles. It was Rockabilly Charm (Tony “The Judge” Beltrami) who came out of the pack to win by just over a length but had to survive a lengthy judges inquiry. The judges left “The Judge” up. Longshot Gotta Minute N (Ryan “The Brit Hit” Inglis) was a hard luck second, while Ferdinand A and Slendorn faded to third. This mile went in 1:53.4.

The winner is a 9-year-old gelding owned and trained by Victoria D’Alessandro.

In the eighth race and final MADC race on the card, it was an early tussle as longshot Sand Sniper (Cameron “The Kid” Capone) would not relinquish the top spot to post time favorite Whammer Jammer (Slendorn). This set it up for an exciting finish and all closers to hit the top spots. It was Odds On Lauderdale (Michael “New Englander” Girouard) who got up by just over a length at decent odds to give him his first win at the Big M in a long time. It was Takemetothelmit Gb (“Rockin” Rob Harmon) who ended up second while Brazen Brazilian (Michael Kimelman) rounded out a juicy trifecta. The final mile time was 1:53.2.

The winner is a 9-year-old horse co-owned by Robert Griffin along with the winning trainer Michael Eaton.

The MADC will be back next Friday night for more exciting harness racing action. Post time is scheduled for 6:20 p.m.