Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Meadowlands Fall Meet A Rousing Success

December 20, 2004

The 17-date 2004 fall harness meet at the Meadowlands, which concluded last Saturday, produced an increase in total handle and three new champions - leading driver Brian Sears, leading trainer Mark Silva and leading owner Odds On Racing. Total handle - wagering by fans at the Meadowlands as well as simulcasting locations across North America - averaged $3,376,706, an increase of 5.7 percent compared to 2003. On track handle averaged
$642,176, off by 2.4 percent. Attendance was down three percent, averaging 4,300.

However, in 2003, the Meadowlands hosted the finals of the Breeders Crown for two and three-year-olds on November 29, which drew 15,101 who wagered $1.7 million on track toward a $6.7 million total, making it the second highest handle of the year at the Meadowlands. When that date is extracted from the statistics along with this year's Fall Final Four on December 4, the 2004 meet shows increases in all categories.

Without the major stakes night, total harness handle was up 10.2 percent [$3,291,813 average vs. $2,986,411], on track live handle was up 3.4 percent [$615,250 vs. $594,843] and average attendance was up 2.4 percent [4,094 vs. 4,000].

"With a five percent purse increase at the start of the fall meet and another 10 percent increase, effective with our opening on January 7, 2005, horsemen are responding to our program in a very positive way," said Meadowlands Vice President and General Manager Chris McErlean. "We have new stables shipping to New Jersey and continue to be the destination of choice for anyone with quality stock. The competitiveness of our racing product is reflected in the increased wagering. That competitiveness was highlighted over the last week of the meet with two-thirds of the races decided by one length or less and one-third by a nose or neck."

During the brief fall harness meet, all three titlists won their first Meadowlands' crowns. Brian Sears edged out David Miller for top driver honors with 35 wins to 33 wins. Rounding out the top five were Ron Pierce, who won the January through August meet title, with 26 wins; George Brennan with 21 wins and John Campbell with 19 wins. Mark Silva, often a top five conditioner, harnessed 11 winners to nine each for Richard Banca and Mark Harder. Kevin McDermott and Noel Daley each had eight winners.

Robin Schadt and Dana Parham, the Odds On Racing partnership from Crete, Illinois, took top honors among the owners with six winners, edging Richard T. Banca with five winners. Tied with four each were Four Starzzz Stable and Double Down Stable. During the four-week meet, there were seven stakes - the two-year-old early closers called the Fall Final Four and a trio of late closing series for three-year-olds. On December 4, the Fall Final Four and the finals of two of the fall late closers highlighted the racing program. Restive Hanover, a finalist for Two-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the Year honors, won the $200,000 Three Diamonds for driver Andy Miller and trainer Erv Miller. The $237,400 Governor's Cup for pacing colts was won by Syncro's Z Tam, trained and driven by Patrick Lachance. In the trotting divisions, the team of driver John Campbell and trainer Chuck Sylvester captured the $228,600 Valley Victory for colts with Diesel Don. Jacqui Ingrassia guided Aeronautess, trained by her husband, Frank Ingrassia, to the winner's circle of the $211,800 Goldsmith Maid for fillies.

David Miller was the winning pilot of both the $60,000 Oil Burner Final for pacing colts and the $51,300 Charles Singer Memorial for trotters. Armbro Becalm, trained by Brett Pelling, won the Oil Burner, while the Paul Buer-conditioned Ecstatic captured the Singer. The $50,000 Snow Angel for pacing fillies went to Queen OTRA, driven by George Brennan and trained by Jeff Stafford, on December 15. Claiming activity involved 42 transactions for a total of $1,493,300, which yielded $47,754 in New Jersey sales taxes. Exchanging hands twice during the meet were Twin B Gambit, Michael Q, Dinero, Image of Jate and Camsurge. The highest priced claim of the meet was the $100,000 paid by Betty Tauber of East Brunswick, New Jersey for St George Island on December 4.

2004 FALL Big M FINAL STANDINGS (November 19 - December 18, 2004)
Drivers, Starts, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Earnings
Brian Sears        156 (35-19-23) $473,090
David Miller       193 (33-36-24) $616,361
Ron Pierce       192 (26-24-28) $482,303
George Brennan 171 (21-13-15) $349,531
John Campbell   104 (19-11-7)   $397,390
Jim Morrill Jr.     174 (17-31-24) $417,195
Cat Manzi          184 (16-24-2)   $439,256
Daniel Dube      155 (10-12-12) $190,939
Yannick Gingras 153 (9-11-13) $169,921
Patrick Lachance 106 (7-12-13) $256,614

Trainers, Starts, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Earnings
Mark Silva          42 (11-5-9)   $151,550
Richard Banca      45 (9-8-5)    $223,138
Mark Harder         65 (9-6-5)    $139,930
Kevin McDermott 31 (8-3-1)    $65,296
Noel Daley          40  (8-2-7)    $80,309
Ken Rucker         47 (7-11-5) $137,479
Mark Ford           34 (6-6-4)   $110,573
Chris Ryder        32 (6-6-3)   $103,932
Brett Pelling         24 (6-3-2)    $126,501

Owners, Starts, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Earnings
Odds On Racing                                      23 (6-3-4) $115,328
Richard T. Banca                                    10 (5-2-2) $115,960
Four Starzzz Stables Inc.                         14 (4-2-1) $37,330
Double Down Stables                              13 (4-1-1) $30,445
Martin Scharf                                          13 (3-2-1) $56,995
Richard H.Elmore & Darby D.Miller             5 (3-1-1) $51,855
Peter F Agosta                                         7 (3-1-2) $41,980
Bell Valley Farms Inc                                9 (3-2-1) $41,025
M & M Harness Racing Stables LLC            16 (3-0-2) $32,430
Brian Nixon & Aubrey Friedman                  8 (3-0-0) $29,733
Jack J. Sheehan & Debra K. Messing           4 (3-1-0) $27,025
A Ferrara, J Fodera, T Franchino, S Wienick 6 (3-1-0) $23,250