Mark Herschberger scores rich Grand Slam

Rising star at Freehold Raceway, Mark Herschberger, visited the harness racing winner’s circle four times on the 12-race Saturday, May 18 program with big payoffs in three of his four wins.

He got his first win in race two where he took advantage of a perfect pocket trip and snuck up the rail to win with Pack Your Bags (Betterthancheddar) for Joe Gulotta.

PACK YOUR BAGS REPLAY

In race four, Herschberger snuck up the rail in the stretch to win again with the lone mare in a field of horses and geldings, Lazarus Girl (Lazarus N), trained by Maria Reid, at a price of 7-1. This kicked off a streak of three wins in a row for the 29-year-old driver.

LAZARUS GIRL REPLAY

In the following race five, Herschberger continued the strategy that had been working for him so far today which was to once again make a late move up the rail to sneak passed his competitors for the win. This time, he got up by a nose over the 1-5 favorite (who was later taken down to seventh due to interference in the first turn) with his 28-1 mount, Gaius Crastinus (American Ideal) for trainer John Novello.

A win bet paid $58.00. This upset many bettors’ early pick-4 tickets which led to a $7,222.72 carryover into the late pick-4 where a winning $1 ticket paid $2,178.20.

GAIUS CRASTINUS REPLAY

Herschberger completed the three-race win streak and the driving grand-slam with another move up the rail to win race six with 13-1 shot, Stabler (Always A Virgin) for trainer Mike Rizzo.

STABLER REPLAY

The favorites did not have much success this weekend at Freehold; only two out of nine winners on the Friday (May 17) card were favorites and only three out of today’s twelve winners.

The $0.50 pick-5 will have a $2,819.19 into Friday (May 24) which will be the second-to-last day of racing at Freehold before the track closes for its summer break. Saturday (May 25) will be the final race day before the break. Post time for both days is 12:30pm. Racing will resume starting on August 23, 2024.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Katie Eick, for Freehold Raceway