Uptown Lady N powers by rivals

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – Friday night’s harness racing feature at The Meadowlands was a matchup of talented shippers. Fox Valley Exploit, a Chicago transplant who had two credible tighteners over the New Jersey mile oval, and Cyclone Sister, a Dover Downs visitor who had crushed her foes in three straight races.

The problem: Uptown Lady N failed to read the script.

Racing uncovered just after the half from sixth in a seven-horse field (there was one scratch), Uptown Lady N put in a huge, uncovered mile to record an easy 1-length win in 1:52.4 in the $15,500 high-end conditioned pace for fillies and mares.

In the early going it was even-money favorite Cyclone Sister, who led at every call during her three-race Delaware domination, leading at the quarter in :27.3 and the half in :56.4 as 2-1 second choice Fox Valley Exploit sat right behind. Uptown Lady N got off the rail with less than five-eighths to go and made her way steadily toward the leaders and was up to challenge Cyclone Sister at three-quarters, which was reached in 1:26.3.

From there, it was no contest as driver Steve Smith guided Uptown Lady N easily to the top after they straightened away for the stretch drive on the way to victory lane. Fox Valley Exploit was second with Stellenbosch outkicking Cyclone Sister for third.

A Karen Garland-trained 7-year-old daughter of Art Major-Angela Jane, Uptown Lady N returned $9.40 to her backers as the 7-2 third choice in the wagering. She’s now won nine-of-49 lifetime starts (with 23 on-the-board finishes) and has earnings of $95,057.

‘BILL’ GOES WIRE-TO-WIRE: Bungalow Bill N was just one-for-34 over the last two years when he headed to the gate last week. Then, the Shaun Vallee trainee recorded a wire-to-wire score in 1:53.

Apparently, that’s what he needed to get his season in gear.

The 11-year-old gelded son of Bettor’s Delight-Stawberry Fields upped his win streak to two, taking a division of the first leg of the TrackMaster Series (rating of 74.5 or less) in 1:53.2, scoring for the second straight week in start-to-finish fashion. As the 9-5 public choice, he paid $5.80 to win and now has 22 wins from 156 lifetime starts.

A LITTLE MORE: There were just two winning tickets sold in the 20-cent Pick-6, and each of those shrewd players walked away with $3,936.00 despite only one horse going off at odds of greater than 5-1 during the sequence. … Mark MacDonald and Joe Bongiorno each recorded driving doubles. … All-source wagering totaled $2,617,585 on the 13-race card. … Racing resumes Saturday at 6:20 p.m.

View the Meadowlands results click here!

By Dave Little, Meadowlands Media Relations