Bongiorno slams and snags feature

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – Chapheart (Chapter Seven) had the all-important tightener over the track, and the Ron Burke harness racing trainee responded with a superb effort in the Friday (Feb 10) night featured conditioned trot at The Meadowlands, giving driver Joe Bongiorno one of his four victories on the card.

The 4-year-old gelded son of Chapter Seven-Hip To My Heart won it using a tactic that his driver thought wasn’t the best way to go, but things went the right way on the front end.

“I think he’d prefer to race off a helmet,” said Bongiorno, who currently sits atop The Big M driver standings with 22 winner’s circle visits. “Once we made the front pretty cheap (we were in good shape).”

A second-place finish last Saturday after a three-month layoff had Chapheart ready to go, and after setting fractions of :28.1, :57.3 and 1:26.1, the winner of six races from 24 lifetime starts had no trouble hitting the wire first in a lifetime-best 1:54.3, three-quarters-of-a-length in front of an along-the-pylons closing Call Me Dani. Fit Bitt was third.

“I know Eurobond struggles on the turns,” said Bongiorno of the 2-1 second choice who went parked around the far bend, “so I tried to get away from him a little bit. My horse hung tough right through the lane. We got the fractions tonight.”

As the even-money favorite, Chapheart returned $4.20 to win. Eurobond finished fourth.

CHAPHEART REPLAY

Bongiorno also scored with Rable ($6.40 to win as the second choice) in the seventh race; A New Leader ($15.80 as the third choice) in the eighth; and Lenwoods Real Deal ($38.80 as the seventh choice) in the 11^th.

A $20 win bet on all 12 of Bongiorno’s drives resulted in a profit of $412.

A PERFECT 10: The Meadowlands’ streak of topping the $3-million betting barrier on Fridays and Saturdays during 2023 stayed alive. A total of $3,100,563 was pushed through the windows on the 14-race card, meaning that this year, there have 10 programs conducted on Friday and Saturday nights, with each surpassing the magic $3-million mark.

A LITTLE MORE: Yannick Gingras, Dexter Dunn and Andy McCarthy all recorded driving doubles. … Per Engblom and Bruce Saunders each trained a pair to victory lane. … There were no winning tickets sold in the 20-cent Pick-6, setting up a $6,535 carryover. Those with five correct collected $198.06. … Racing resumes Saturday at 6:20 p.m. The Pick-6 begins in the eighth race, with free past performances for every race of every Meadowlands card available click here.

For complete race results, click here.

by Dave Little for The Meadowlands