Karl cruises again to stay perfect

Karl (Tactical Landing-Avalicious) continued his march toward Hambletonian Day with another harness racing win, taking the second of three $30,000 legs of the New Jersey Sire Stakes for 3-year-old colt and gelding trotters in 1:52.2.

He once again raced from off the pace, and once again had little trouble winning for the second time in as many 2024 starts. His final quarter of :26.2 completed a 4-length win over Tony Adams S. He paid $2.10 as the 1-9 public choice.

KARL REPLAY

Karl, who won nine of 10 races at two, including the Breeders Crown, is now 11-for-12 lifetime. The Nancy Takter trainee has earned $1,077,525 for owners Christina and Nancy Takter, Black Horse Racing, Crawford Farms Racing, and Bender Sweden Inc.

1:48 IS GREAT: Only minutes after Legendary Hanover established an industry-fastest 2024-mile time of 1:48.3 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, the remarkable Oakwood Ardan IR ($2.40 to win as the 1-5 favorite), a 5-year-old gelded son of Sweet Lou-Trend Setter, won the TrackMaster Series final (for horses with a rating of 89.5 or less) in 1:48 to set a new North American season’s best for trainer Robert Cleary, his seventh win in eight starts since his arrival from Great Britain last fall.

OAKWOOD ARDAN IR REPLAY

Just six races later, Maximus Miki (Always B Miki-Beach Gal) equaled the 1:48 clocking after racing parked for the final half-mile in an iron-tough $46,500 Open for pacers. ‘Miki’, a 5-year-old gelding who is trained by Tom Cancelliere, returned $11.80 as the 9-2 fourth choice.

MAXIMUS MIKI REPLAY

Both 1:48 performers were driven by Andy McCarthy.

CLOSE FINISH: Ian McIntosh took down the first prize of $2,500 in The Big M’s free handicapping contest that offered $10,000 in total prizes.

McIntosh finished with a bankroll of $147.80, just nosing out second-place finisher Kaia Savage, who totaled $145.40 to walk away with $2,000.

A LITTLE MORE: After totaling seven winners combined last Saturday, the McCarthy brothers were at it, rolling another seven on the program. On Saturday, it was Todd taking four and Andy three. One week ago, it was the other way around. … All-source handle on the 14-race program totaled $3,584,315, the 33^rd time from 39 cards this year when wagering went past the $3-million mark. … Racing resumes Friday at 6:20 p.m.

To read about Jiggy Jog S’s Cutler win on the card, click here.

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

by Dave Little, for The Meadowlands