East Rutherford, NJ --- Sweet Lou returned to The Meadowlands in style in the first round of the TVG Free For All Championship series with a dominant and compelling performance on May 10, sailing around the East Rutherford oval in 1:48.3. Among those left in his wake was his stablemate and the richest pacer in history, Foiled Again.
“(Sweet Lou) was super last week. That mile was as good as I have seen him since he was two,” was the reaction from trainer Ron Burke. “We tried him at Yonkers, but it didn’t seem to suit him, but all his efforts on the bigger tracks this year have been excellent.”
He will be driven by Ron Pierce once again.
Sweet Lou (post 10) leads a three-pronged Ron Burke attack in the second $50,000 TVG Free For All Championship leg Saturday night at The Meadowlands. Joining him this round are stablemates Clear Vision (post one) and Bettor’s Edge (post nine).
While conspicuous by his absence, Burke explained why Foiled Again is qualifying this week and not entered in the TVG FFA event. “Each leg I want to race three out of the four I have in there. This week Foiled gets the night off.”
Clear Vision, who just missed to Dancin Yankee in a world record mile of 1:47.2 at Pocono last week, is having an excellent campaign thus far for Burke and will be driven by Matt Kakaley.
“He has been awesome this year,” Burke added. “He’ll be a factor in there.”
The last of the trio is Bettor’s Edge, piloted by Joe Bongiorno, who despite his last two racelines, has been better than one may think.
“He had no chance last week the way the race shaped up, but he was super,” said Burke. “The key with him is getting him into the race and if he gets a trip, he’ll be right there.”
The Burke entry has been installed as the 8-5 morning line favorite for this week’s $50,000 TVG Free For All leg.
Warrawee Needy (post three) will begin as the second choice, sporting a 3-1 morning line with Tim Tetrick at the lines once again. Warrawee Needy came up a neck short to Allstar Legend in the $30,000 Free For All Handicap last week at The Meadowlands after setting a blistering pace, getting to the three-quarters in 1:19.4.
Bolt The Duer made a favorable impression in his 2014 debut, finishing a solid third behind Sweet Lou and Foiled Again.
“He was really good,” said his regular driver, Mark MacDonald. “He acted like he needed that start. He was racing against horses that had all been racing quite a bit already this year. I really think he is ready to step up and have a very big year.”
Bolt The Duer will start from post two and is 4-1 on the morning line.
The remainder of this week’s TVG FFA leg consists of Thinking Out Loud, Modern Legend, Word Power, Golden Receiver and Dovuto Hanover. Total earnings for the field of 10 is more than $12.5 million.
This $50,000 TVG FFA leg will go postward as race six on a 13-race program that also features the second leg of the New Jersey Sire Stakes for 3-year-old colt and filly pacers. Post time is 7:15 p.m.