Dave Miller clearly appreciated the return to Thursday night racing at The Meadowlands as he scored six wins on the card.
Two of those wins came in the Super Bowl Trotting Series, starting on Thursday night after a one-week delay due to cancelled card on January 2.
The first Super Bowl triumph for 'The Buckeye' was Donatella Hanover. Sent off an even money favorite, she ranged up on the outside into the final turn, swooped to the lead and trotted strongly through the stretch to score in 1:55.3 for trainer Jimmy Takter. Donatella Hanover is owned by Christinatakterandthekids.
Miller’s other score in the trotting series came with Ray Hall, who broke in his previous start but had no such trouble tonight leading from start to finish in 1:54.4 and winning by just over one length.
Ray Hall is trained by Mark Harder and owned by Bruce & Patricia Soulsby and The Wall Bros Stable.
Earlier on the card, Home Turf took his division of the Super Bowl by one length, holding off Cocotier in 1:56 for John Campbell, trainer Noel Daley who co-owns with Mirva Bogucki.
The most impressive winner in the first round of the Super Bowl trotting series was Time To Quit. Patiently handled by Yannick Gingras, Time To Quit moved smoothly to the lead on the far turn, opened up willingly in the stretch and was wrapped up coming to the wire, holding off Dough Dough in the process.
Time To Quit appears as the horse to beat in the series for Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi LLC and Philip Collura, trained by Ron Burke.
Round Two of the Super Bowl will be contested Thursday, January 16 with the final set for Wednesday, January 22.
Live handle showed a 23-percent increase compared to this same night last year, while the export yielded a 21-percent increase, resulting in a total handle increase of 21-percent over 2013.
Full charted results are available at the following link: Thursday Results - Meadowlands Racetrack.
(with files from The Meadowlands)