Meadowlands Good Friday card

East Rutherford, NJ – The Easter holiday weekend of live harness racing at The Meadowlands kicks off with an eleven race card on Friday evening.

 

The featured event is race two a $17,500 overnight comprised of seven gifted pacing mares, five of which are coming into the race off a win in their most recent start.

 

Delightful Dragon has strung together a pair of wins, a 1:51.4 score at The Meadowlands two back followed by a trip across the Hudson to take the Preferred in 1:53.4 on the half mile oval. Trainer Noel Daley owns the now 7-year-old winner of nearly three quarters of a million dollars and Andy McCarthy will drive from post 3.

 

Juxta Cowgirl is using this race to prep for the upcoming Burning Point series which begins next week. The career winner 27 times from 47 starts dominated the Iowa fair circuit as a freshman and sophomore and has excelled since moving to the East coast for owners Stuart Oppenheimer, David Glasser and Robert Cooper. She won at first asking over the Meadowlands mile and takes on better foes this week. Mike Watson trains and Jim Marohn, Jr is back in the bike from post 6.

 

The popular "Driver Face Off" promotion returns, the "1 Million Penny Giveaway" debuts and the Jackpot Super Hi-5 pool is at $161,453 going into Friday's races. Get your free program pages here.

 

Post time is 7:15 p.m.

 

BIG M GEARING UP FOR SUPER SATURDAY 

Last Saturday, March 24, was a big one at the Meadowlands as for the second time this year, handle on the live program reached the magic $3 million mark.

Total play was $3,086,823 on the 12-race program, a number surpassed only once earlier in the meeting, when betting reached $3,454,633 on March 3.

In addition, the track saw big action on its Pick-4 and Pick-5 bets.

“$3 million is a huge number for a night-time track,” said Jason Settlemoir, the track’s chief operating officer and general manager. “And $127,239 in the Pick-4 pool? That’s a thoroughbred number. Obviously, we are very happy with the public response to our product and the New Meadowlands facility.

“There was more than $1.3 million wagered on all horse racing Saturday at the Meadowlands and that is an extremely big number as well. We are expecting another great Saturday this week with the $10 million Dubai World Cup and the $1 million Florida Derby. In addition, they’ll be the mandatory payout on the Gulfstream Rainbow 6. All of this leads up to the Final Four games in Victory sports bar and our live program Saturday night. The atmosphere in the building should be incredible.”

Last Saturday’s wild wagering represented a half-million dollar increase in play over the corresponding card from a year earlier, and the per race average of $257,235 was up over $44,000 from the year before.

The Pick-4 pool smashed the previous best by more than $25,000 while the Pick-5 pool of $72,123 represented a 2018 non-carryover best.

Free program pages for the Pick-4 (Races 8 through 11), courtesy of Track Master, are available on the Meadowlands’ website (www.playmeadowlands.com) and on the handicapping section at www.ustrotting.com.

SATURDAY STATS: The average pool sizes for Saturday’s card: Win, $44,961; Exacta, $67,964; Trifecta, $55,774; Superfecta, $40,518. On Race 8, which begins the Pick-4 sequence, a total of $363,411 was bet.

GIANT FRIDAY CARRYOVER: They’ll be plenty of opportunities for players to make money on the Friday card as well, but none as enticing as when the 11^th race 20-Cent Jackpot Super High-Five and its $161,463 carryover are in the spotlight. Post time on Friday and Saturday is 7:15 p.m.

FINAL FOUR IN VICTORY: The NCAA basketball tournament’s Final Four will be shown in Victory sports bar Saturday night. Cinderella 11-seed Loyola-Chicago takes on 3-seed Michigan in the first game at 6:09 p.m. while the 8:49 p.m. matchup features a pair of top-seeded powerhouses, Kansas and Villanova.

WORLD’S RICHEST RACE: The $10 million Dubai World Cup (post time, 12:50 p.m. EDT) from Meydan Racecourse will be on the Big M simulcast menu Saturday, as will the $1 million Florida Derby (post time, 6:30 p.m.) from Gulfstream Park.

Gulfstream’s Rainbow 6 will have a mandatory payout on Saturday, which is certain to create big noise, given that the carryover at the conclusion of Sunday’s card was just short of $4.5 million.

In the event the carryover continues through the end of Friday’s card, the Rainbow 6 pool could reach a staggering $20 million on Saturday, a day which could see a Gulfstream total handle in excess of $40 million. Post time for the first race at Gulfstream on Saturday is 11:30 a.m.

ARRIVE EARLY: To accommodate those who wish to watch and wager on the early races from Dubai, the doors at the Big M will open at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning.