Jul 20, 2024 3 min read

By Joe Tuscano

For the Observer-Reporter

newsrooom@observer-reporter.com

MEADOW LANDS – Wish You Well never raced at The Meadows before.

The 3-year-old horse, trained by Nifty Norman and owned by Kovach Stables LLC of Millford, Del., stunned the others in his race Saturday afternoon by turning in a 25.2 in the final quarter, winning the first elimination race for next Saturday’s Adios Pace for the Orchids.

David Miller, who has had most of his drives at New Jersey tracks, couldn’t suppress his satisfaction.

“I think he raced extremely well today,” Miller said. “I was a bit of a surprise he won that easily. There were some very good horses in his race. But he raced tremendous. He raced very, very well. Hopefully, he’ll race that good next week.”

Wish You Well made up about eight lengths over the last quarter and finished with a time of 1:49.1. He paid $59.00 to win, $18.80 to place $6.80 to show.

“I drove his last two or three races, and he raced very well but not like that,” said Miller

Huntingforchrome, driven by James McDonald and owned by Ny Seb Inc., of Katonah, NY, was second and Sweet Beach Life, with Mike Kakaley in the sulky, finished third.

Captain Albano blew away the field to win the second elimination race, turning in a 1:49.2 to cross over first. Timeisonmyside, trained locally by Tim Twaddle, was three lengths back and Noblesville, a Ron Burke horse, was third.

“It was hard to write off any horse,” said driver Todd McCarthy, who traveled from Australia to compete. “There were a couple of horses inside us who had been racing really good. I just figured if I could get away and stay out of trouble, I’d be OK. As long as I don’t ask him to do a lot in the first quarter, I think he’ll be all right. He’s a pretty classy horse. But you have to be careful because you have to come back and race next week.”

The winner of each elimination took home $12,500 and will have their choice of lanes when this week’s draw is held.

The top-four horses in each division qualified for next Saturday’s nine-horse Adios final. The ninth horse will be determined by the higher lifetime earnings between the two fifth-place finishers in the eliminations.

Nuclear and Clever Cody each finished fourth in their respective races. The last qualifier was Burke’s Outer Banks, the fifth-place finisher with the most career earnings..

Burke had three horses in the elimination, Outer Banks in the eighth race and Noblesville and Booming Economy in Race 9.

“The last bad start he had was the Meadowlands Pace,” McCarthy said. “But we were super unlucky the way things worked out for him. We got a bad post and there was a lot of speed inside us. When you race good horses like that it’s hard to make up ground from behind. I wasn’t disappointed.”

Railroad Station, a Burke horse, turned in a 1:51.1 to win the prestigious Pennsylvania Sire Stake Race for 2-year-olds in what could be a preview of next year’s Adios. David Miller was in the sulky for Raillroad Station’s push over the stretch run.