On The Money GB cashes in again

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – It may not be having the same impact as the four lads from Liverpool had when they arrived in America some 60 years ago, but the Ron Burke harness racing barn’s On The Money GB (Control The Moment-Riverboat Queen) brought smiles to her connections and her backers while winning for the second time in as many North American starts Friday night (Jan. 27) at The Meadowlands since her arrival from Great Britain.

The 5-year-old mare is one of five British horses brought over by Burke and his ownership team, who brought a half-dozen horses over three years ago who did some good, so they figured they’d try it again.

Not surprisingly, things are going well.

On The Money GB, sent to the gate for a second straight start as the 3-5 favorite, was put on the point by driver Yannick Gingras early, and despite having to hold off a pesky Super Girl, completed her wire-to-wire mission in 1:52.3, a lifetime best. Super Girl was a nose back in second with Always Beachy third in the conditioned pace for fillies and mares.

“They brought some nice horses over here (from Great Britain),” said Gingras, “and they have been pretty good so far (Ladyford Dollar GB won his North American debut Sunday). They have been racing in the proper classification. I like (On The Money GB), she dug in and was pretty good tonight.”

Gingras didn’t mind handing out some good-natured needling to his friend Mark MacDonald, who drove the second-place finisher. “I let him get to me a little bit in the stretch, so I could tell him better luck next time nearing the wire.”

On The Money GB paid $3.40 to win. She now has eight victories from just 16 lifetime outings, good for earnings of $26,096.

YOU ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR FIRST: A pair of young drivers recorded their first-ever Meadowlands wins on the card, and they did it with serious longshots.

Twenty-one-year-old Marvin Luna guided That’s My Type ($71.40 to win) to victory in the fourth race, and later on, Matthew Athearn, 24, scored with Frank Deford ($84.40) in the 13^th despite that horse having been on the shelf for 38 days.

SEVENTH HEAVEN: The Big M’s streak of betting at least $3 million on Friday and Saturday evenings extended to seven, as a total of $3,029,828 was pushed through the windows on the 14-race card.

During 2022, betting did not surpass the $3-million plateau for a seventh time until April 23, which was the 29^th program of the year.

A LITTLE MORE: There were no winning tickets sold on the 20-cent Pick-6, setting up a carryover of $6,048.06 heading into Saturday’s eighth race, the next time the bet will be offered. … Free past performances for every race of every Meadowlands card are available by going to playmeadowlands.com. … Gingras led the driver colony with three winners. MacDonald and Dave Miller both had driving doubles. … Miller will be the guest on “In the Sulky” during the Saturday pregame show, which begins at 5:45 p.m. … Racing resumes Saturday at 6:20 p.m. … There will be racing for a second consecutive (and final) Sunday afternoon this week. Post time is 12:30 p.m.

For complete race results, click here.

by Dave Little, for The Meadowlands