EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – The Exit 16W brought a jolt of excitement to the Thursday night harness racing programs at The Meadowlands, and the second leg of the series brought a few mild setbacks in two of the Pop Up series five splits on a cold night at the mile oval.
In the $29,150 division for trotters who were winners of 4 but not 7 parimutuel races, Hey Porter engineered an ideal pocket trip to beat 1-2 favorite A Real Legend, who was looking for a second straight victory as the odds-on pick.
After Hey Porter led the quarter while parked in :28.2, driver Brett Beckwith must have been pleased to see A Real Legend pass him and he stayed close behind the favorite until halfway through the stretch, when Beckwith then had enough space along the inside to fire Hey Porter through to easily win by 2 lengths in 1:52.4, lowering his previous life record by two and a fifth seconds. A Real Legend came second and Scudo Hanover third.
“Last week was a tougher trip at first,” said Beckwith as A Real Legend defeated Hey Porter by a distance. “Tonight was a better trip. We had to follow Jason [Bartlett, driving A Real Legend]and when my horse got free, he exploded. My horse, he’s a Cadillac, he loves his job. He won that race with the [ear] connect.”
As the second choice at 7-2, Hey Porter returned $9.40 to his backers. The three-year-old gelding son of Bar Hopping-Chelsees A Winner is trained by Enrico Robinson and has now claimed six wins from 25 lifetime starts for earnings of $244,089.
HEY PORTER REPLAY
Bourbonista S won the $25,750 split for trotters who were winners of 2 but no more than 4 races by doing the same as Hey Porter. And for a comparable payout.
The 4 year old daughter of Face Time Bourbon-Affinity Kronos, a Noel Daley trainee, was put into an early lead by pilot Johnathan Ahle and reached the quarter in :28.3.
Ahle then ceded the top to Jason Bartlett, who rode 4-5 public choice Benny J, who came in from Yonkers after struggling in that circuit’s Grand Prix Series.
They stayed that way at the back and into the stretch, when Ahle Bourbonista S blasted out of the two hole with just over three-sixteenths of a mile to go, sailing easily past the favorite on his way to a score of 2 lengths in 1:54. Benny J came second and She’s Spicy third.
It was Bourbonista S’s first victory on American soil since her arrival from Sweden in the early fall.
“She’s pretty versatile,” Ahle said. “She gets out of the car well. [In her last start] she was not good at the front [when second]. She wasn’t interested. She had to follow a helmet tonight and responded. Jason looked like he had some left, but mine felt good and still had some trot left.
As the third choice at 7-2, Bourbonista paid S$9.20 to win. She now has five wins in twenty lifetime attempts and has earnings of $92,963.
BOURBONISTA’S REPEAT
NOT A REGULAR JOE: Followers of Big M TV’s interviewer Joe Romanelli in the paddock made their way to the windows as ‘Joe Ro’ correctly selected six winners, four exactas, two trifectas and one superfecta on the card.
Romanelli’s best bet Clear For Landing scored in the seventh race, paying $4, while his best price of the night came in the ninth with Hey Porter, who paid $9.40.
A LITTLE MORE: Braxten Boyd topped the driver standings at the end of the evening with four winners. … Per Engblom led the coaches with a pair of walks down victory lane. …Two winning tickets were sold on the 20-cent Survivor Pick-7, and the sequence didn’t seem extremely difficult to have. The odds for the winner were 2-1, 9-2, 2-1, 2-1, 1-1, 1-1 and 7-2. The payout was a nice $3,047.14. … All sources for the 12-race program totaled $1,428,708. … Racing resumes Friday at 6:20 p.m
For full race results, click here: American trotting results
Through Dave Kleinfor The Meadowlands
#Hey #Porter #Bourbonista #angered #rivals #harness #racing