Strada Memorial tonight

Tonight 10 of the sport's top pacing mares in training will assemble for the $75,000 Thomas Strada Memorial at the Meadowlands, a race that honors a Cantor Fitzgerald employee who lost his life in the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Among the contenders in the evening's sixth race are 2006 Pacing Mare of the Year Burning Point, Marnie Hall, who is fresh off a 1:51.3 victory in the Classic Series at Dover, and Miss Galvinator, winner of this year's Cape & Cutter Final at the Meadowlands.

This marks the third running of the memorial race created by the family and friends of Thomas Strada, an avid harness racing fan who was killed in the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center where he worked for Cantor Fitzgerald since 1995.  Strada, 41, was a vice president on the corporate bond desk.

An outdoorsman, Strada shared his love of harness racing with his wife, Terry, whose father was a Hall of Fame horseman, the late George Sholty.

"The memory of Thomas will live on forever with his family, Terry and his children," said Ernest Strada, Thomas' father.  "The race in his memory honors him.  Having the opportunity for all his friends to be together gives everyone a chance to visit for a while and reminisce.  It's a fun evening, and we know it would please him.  To have the best mares compete is most appropriate because Tommy was the best."

Strada, along with his brothers, Michael and Joseph, and sisters, Jennifer and Susan, grew up in the shadow of the former Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury, New York, where their father has been mayor since 1981. (Meadowlands)

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