Horse & Groom headlines Big M Friday

The Horse and Groom Series got underway Friday night at the Meadowlands with two divisions headlining the 13 race card. In the first division, it was a budding star trained by Ron Burke, Dw’s NY Yank who moved to the lead down the backstretch with Yannick Gingras and never looked back scoring in a sharp 1:54.1. The win made it five in a row for the four year old gelded son of Dilbert Hanover.

The second division was not as kind to Burke and Gingras as favored Quick Deal, never made the gate, going offstride prior to the start. That allowed Modern Family to roll to an easy win in 1:54.1 for the team of Tim Tetrick and Daryl Bier, trotting a final quarter in 26.4. Quick Deal did a good job of getting back into the race, but tired in the stretch and managed only to be fourth.

In the Free For All Handicap Trot, Sevruga dug in gamely to hold off Ice Machine in a sharp 1:53.2 score for the husband and wife team of Andy and Julie Miller. Sevruga is 1 of 36 trotters nominated to the Free For All Championship Series.

The betting windows showed significant gains once again. The $3,244,485 wagered on Friday was the largest Friday handle of the season, and marked an increase of $858,394 from the same Friday in 2012, or 36%. On track handle was also up 11%.

Racing returns with a big 13 race card on Saturday featuring the Junior Trendsetter Final and the first round of the Aquarius series. Post time is 7:15 P.M.

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