When longshot Lotus Seelster lit up the tote board in Friday night’s 13th race at The Meadowlands, handicappers no doubt got right to work on the Saturday program given the opportunities that await.
The 83-1 shot, driven by Simon Allard and trained by Mark Capone, paid $168.20 to win, and in the process, set up a pair of tantalizing carryovers for Saturday’s card.
No one had a winning ticket on the 20-cent Pick-6, creating a carryover of $9,019. Those with five correct collected $85.90. The 10-cent Hi-5/Pentafecta also went unhit, as no one had the winning combination of 9-1-3-10-4, resulting in a carryover of $32,103.
When the Meadowlands Racetrack opened on Sept. 1, 1976, a 16-year-old John Calabrese was in attendance. The new facility was less than 10 minutes from his childhood home in North Jersey, and it gave Calabrese his first-ever look at harness racing.
“It was such a big thing when they built the (football) stadium and the racetrack,” Calabrese said. “There were so many commercials on TV, so much fanfare about it, so we went to the track. It was fabulous. That was it.
“My father and I and my brother used to go there all the time. We’d have dinner, we’d look at each other, and my father would ask if we wanted to go to the races. We’d say, Sure. ”