No winning tickets were held in Friday night's Hi-5 wager at the Meadowlands, leading to a $12,939.43 carryover in it in race 14 on Saturday night's program.
FINITE FABULOUS IN BIG M FEATURE: Off a superb second-place finish at the hands of 1-9 favorite Winter Soldier, there was little doubt that the betting public would bet Finite with both hands in the featured $17,500 conditioned trot at the Meadowlands Friday night, and the Ron Burke trainee delivered with ease as the 1-5 public choice in 1:54 4/5.
"I thought he was much the best," said winning driver Brett Beckwith. "He just got beat last week by Winter Soldier. I drove him like he was the best, and he was."
Voss Blue Chip, the 8-1 second choice who defeated Finite at Harrah's Philadelphia on Dec. 27, left alertly and had the lead at the quarter in 28 4/5. Beckwith wasn't interested in taking his time with the heavy chalk, and moved Finite to the lead, hitting the half in 58 seconds and three-quarters in 1:27. After a middle half of 58 1/5, Finite had things well under control.
Were you concerned that the horse that beat you recently was right behind you at the head of the stretch?
"Not really," said Beckwith. "This horse is pretty good, so I wasn't all that worried. After I popped the plugs, he came home really well."
A final quarter of 27 4/5 wrapped up an easy 4 3/4 length win for Finite, who racked up his fourth career victory in 31 tries. Caviart Irish Luck, a 50-1 longshot, took an inside route to nudge past Voss Blue Chip for second.
A 4-year-old gelded son of Resolve-Awesome Chrissy, Finite returned $2.40 to his backers while increasing his lifetime earnings to $115,899 for owners Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi and Phil Collura.
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THATTA BOYD: Braxten Boyd had the hottest hands in the driver colony by piloting five winners on the card. Only one of the 24-year-old's winners went off as the post-time favorite as his victorious horses ended up at odds of 5-2, 7-2, 9-2, 8-5 (favorite) and 2-1.
A GRAND NIGHT: Nick Montemurro and Gary Scogna were the big winners in the first of The Big M's monthly $1,000 Handicapping Contests.
Montemurro and Scogna actually finished in the top four. Montemurro was first and third, finishing with $361 and $247, respectively, while Scogna ended up with $284.36 and $241.05, respectively.
By finishing in the top two, the duo qualified for the $10,000 contest that will be held in December.
The next $1,000 contest takes place on Feb. 14.
A LITTLE MORE: All-source handle on the 14-race card totaled $2,578,613. Racing resumes Saturday at 6:20 p.m.
--edited press release (Meadowlands)--