Jul 12, 2023 4 min read

Adios champion Bythemissal had a rough first six months of the 2023 season.

The fact is, an illness that trainer Ron Burke thought could be fatal only stalled the 4-year-old gelding for a while.

After his performance this past Friday in a qualifier at Meadowlands Racetrack, it’s clear Bythemissal is on track again.

He returned with a vengeance.

Bythemissal won that qualifier Friday afternoon in 1:49.4 with a final quarter of an astounding 24.4 seconds for driver Yannick Gingras and an upbeat Burke.

“He got very sick and missed a good bit of time,” said Burke, who earlier this year surpassed the $300 million mark in career training earnings. “In the long run, maybe the time off will help him.

“He just got sick and had a high temperature for a few weeks. That doesn’t usually happen to older horses. It took time for him to fight through it.”

Bythemissal will pace Friday at The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J, in the annual William R. Haughton Memorial Pace for 4-year-olds and older.

The race is held on the same card at the Meadowlands every third Saturday in July, along with the Stanley Dancer Memorial, Mistletoe Shalee, Dorothy Houghton Memorial, Hambletonian and Miss Versatility, as well as one of the racetrack’s signature events, the Meadowlands Pace, a highlight of the 3-year-old pacing season.

Once Burke thought Bythemissal’s life was in peril, he shipped him to the Mid-Atlantic Equine Medical Center in Ringoes, N.J. Burke is thankful for the center and staff for helping the horse to return to good health.

“I give the clinic a lot of credit,” Burke said. “They took the time with him. He could have died. He needed around-the-clock care.”

Bythemissal was full of life Friday and Burke thinks he’ll be strong Saturday when he participates in the annual William R. Houghton Memorial Pace for 4-year-olds and older at The Meadowlands.

“Going into that qualifier he trained great and when I warmed him up, he was alert and he went by some great horses,” Burke said. “He’s always been a fast horse and he can sprint as well as any horse in the world.

“He’ll be facing a lot of great horses. He’s healthy and ready.”

Burke trained 2014 Houghton winner Sweet Lou. Richard Stillings trained and drove 1988 winner Jaguar Spur.

Full Monti

Drew Monti, who has made The Meadows a more prominent part of his busy driving schedule this year, had a big day on July 6. He drove in a dozen races, winning five, with two second-place finishes. Only one of his wins was with a favorite -Benjamin Hanover, 1-2 – while two were at prices of 10-1 or higher – Rockin Romance, 15-1 and Dirty Dreams, 10-1. Monti is currently seventh in driving wins at The Meadows this year with 60.

Down the stretch

• The Meadows and Penn National Race Course, sister tracks in Pennsylvania, will be working together to offer a dual-breed Pick 4 on Friday evenings starting this Friday. Penn National is in Grantville, near Hershey. The wager will consist of two races from each track, starting with the first race from Penn National, followed by Race 4 at The Meadows. The third leg will be Penn National’s second race. The Meadows’ 5th race will conclude the wager, which should take place within a 40-minute time span. The Pick 4 will begin at about 6 p.m., which is first post at Penn National. The Meadows’ post time on Fridays is 5:10 p.m.
• The Adios Pace elimination races will be Saturday, July 22, with the final the following Saturday. Post time Adios Day, July 29, will be 11:45 a.m.
• Over the past decade, post position No. 5 has regularly been at the top of the list in winning percentage at The Meadows, typically around 15 percent. This season, however, it has been even more of an advantage than usual. Through July 8, horses leaving from post position No. 5 have won 211 times in 1,136 starts, an 18.6 percent clip. Second-best is post No. 3, at 13.7 percent.