All-source wagering on the 15-race card totaled $3,646,603.
Just like one week ago (Jan. 2), a big first-race guaranteed 20-cent Pick-5 pool set the tone for the night. The wager carried not only a $100,000 pool promise but had a $25,000 seed as well, which was provided by track management and the Standardbred Owners Association of New Jersey. In the end, the total P5 pool represented $195,759 of the $411,664 bet overall in the opener.
Play was steady all night long, as three times single-race totals exceeded the $300,000 mark. The track’s Pick-4s were predictably popular with players, as a total of $180,909 was pushed through the windows on the two wagers.
For a guy who didn’t arrive until four months ago, Todd McCarthy continues to impress in harness racing’s toughest driver colony stateside.
The 27-year-old McCarthy continued to do good things since his arrival from Australia, winning four times on the Friday night card at The Meadowlands.
The five-time driving champion at Australia’s Menangle Racetrack finished second at the recently concluded Fall Big M Meeting, ending up just four winners behind leading pilot Dexter Dunn, the native New Zealander who won 46 races.
Break The Deal got McCarthy’s big Friday off to a good start in the opener, taking a low-end fillies and mares pace in 1:52.4 as the 8-5 favourite for trainer Tom Shay before recording three more victories with non-chalks.
With the stars in perfect alignment, wagering at The Meadowlands has been booming of late. In fact, with the track dark each of the last two holiday-season Fridays, the Saturdays (Dec. 26 and Jan. 2) that followed saw cumulative handle exceed $8 million.
After $3.7 million – the fourth-highest day or night of business during 2020 – was pushed through the windows Dec. 26, an incredible $4.5 million was put in play on Jan. 2, which sets a high bar to leap over on a “non-event” card during 2021.
Last Saturday’s program started with a loud bang and the noise kept on coming as players fired away for all 15 races. The 20-cent Pick-5 had a well-publicized carryover and $150,000 guaranteed pool that ended up with a total pool of just over $360,000. In addition, because the $46,000 carryover was not subject to the already low 15 per cent takeout, bettors got back precisely 99.87 per cent of the Pick-5 action instead of the usual 85 per cent.
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With the stars in perfect alignment, wagering at The Meadowlands has been booming of late. In fact, with the track dark each of the last two holiday-season Fridays, the Saturdays (Dec. 26 and Jan. 2) that followed saw cumulative handle batter the $8-million barrier.
After $3.7 million – the fourth-highest day or night of business during 2020 – was pushed through the windows Dec. 26, an incredible $4.5 million was put in play on Jan. 2, which sets a high bar to leap over on a “non-event” card during 2021.
Last Saturday s program started with a loud bang and the noise kept on coming as players fired away for all 15 races. The first race 20-cent Pick-5 had a well-publicized carryover and $150,000 guaranteed pool that ended up with a total pool of just over $360,000. In addition, because the $46,000 carryover was not subject to the already low 15 percent takeout, bettors got back precisely 99.87 percent of the Pick-5 action, instead of the usual 85 perc