The Nancy Takter barn has been on a roll all year long at The Meadowlands, with 25 winners from just 69 starters coming into the weekend, and that outfit stayed hot on Friday night (July 14), winning four of the 12 leg one $30,000 divisions of the New Jersey Sire Stakes for two-year-olds.
The Takter train made its first stop in the third race, when Mr Three O Five took the first of two colt and gelding paces after going a pocket trip. The son of Lazarus N-World Of Rock finished the mile in 1:52.3 with Yannick Gingras driving the 9-5 second choice.
Caviart Justice (Lazarus N-Caviart Jane) completed a colt and gelding pace sweep for Takter in 1:53.2 in the 10th race with Dexter Dunn guiding the 2-1 second choice.
“He’s a nice little horse,” said the four-time defending Dan Patch Driver of the Year. “He really took off and was sprinting pretty hard through the stretch.”
In race four, Magic Hill (Muscle Hill-Magic Marker) won with Gingras in 1:55.1 in the second of four colt and gelding trots.
“He’s a very nice colt,” said Takter of the 3-1 second choice in the betting. “He’s not 100 per cent on his gait yet but he has a great attitude. He wants to pass horses.”
The last of Takter’s “Fab Four” came in race 11 when, after the rains came downgrading the track condition to ‘good,’ Ice Cream (Walner-Southwind Snow) put smiles on her backers faces, taking over at three-quarters and holding sway to the wire in 1:56.4 as the even-money public choice in the third of four filly trots.
“She’s a little green, but she raced really well today,” said winning pilot Gingras. “She was professional. She’s still learning but she’s got a lot of ability.”
In the other three colt and gelding trots, Poof Of Record (Muscle Hill-Poof Shes Gone) won for driver Dave Miller and trainer Nifty Norman in 1:56.1 as the 5-2 second choice; Mars Hill (Muscle Hill-Cardinale) was victorious for Todd McCarthy and Tony Alagna in 1:55.3 as the 14-1 fourth choice; and Hankins Hanover (Walner-Hall Of A Dream) became the first winning favourite on the card in eight tries, scoring in 1:54.4 at 4-5, capping a pair of wins on the night for Miller and Norman.
In the other three filly trots, Soiree Hanover (Walner-Spring Gala) was a winner in 1:55 for Tim Tetrick and Lucas Wallin as the 4-1 second choice; Buy A Round (Walner-On Your Tab) came from off the pace as a 17-1 longshot to stop the clock in 1:55 for Andy McCarthy and Noel Daley; and Sunkist Beauty (Six Pack-Orange Bigi) went wire-to-wire in 1:54.4 for trainer/driver Ake Svanstedt as the 8-5 second choice.
In the two filly paces, trainer Michael Hall sent out both winners, as his Lovevolution (Lazarus N-West Side Glory) scored in 1:54 for Tetrick as the 3-1 third choice while Pulp Fiction (Bettors Wish-Im Trigger Happy) used a three-wide move at three-quarters to win in 1:56 for Todd McCarthy as the 9-5 favourite as the track condition was downgraded to ‘sloppy.’
Gingras led the driver colony with three winners on the night. Miller, Todd McCarthy and Tetrick had two apiece. On the training side, behind Takter were Hall and Norman, who both schooled a pair to victory lane.
Jessica Otten was the winner on Night 13 of the track’s “Battle of The Meadowlands Masterminds” handicapping contest, her second straight victory.
All-source handle totalled $3,015,550 on the 14-race card, the 43rd time in 56 race cards that betting surpassed the $3-million mark this year.
Racing resumes Saturday at 6:20 p.m. when a spectacular 14-race program, with stakes purses totalling more than $2.3 million takes place, featuring the $668,000 Meadowlands Pace. Fox Sports 1 will provide national television coverage of the action from 10 p.m. to midnight.
(The Meadowlands)