Hollywoood Casino at the Meadows has a lot of exciting happenings at the racetrack as the Spring season gets underway, including a brand-new wager: the Meadows Lucky Pick 7. The wager is a $1 minimum Pick 7 that features a low 15% takeout and a 100% carryover of the pool if no winning tickets are sold on a given day. The wager began on Wednesday, March 6th and so far, there have been no winning tickets sold resulting in six consecutive carryovers. The wager will be intriguing in the coming weeks and months as multiple carryovers result in must-play pools. Bettors’ handicapping skills will be challenged though as the $1 minimum can cause ticket prices to grow quickly without a single or two or three on a ticket.
The racing schedule at the Meadows is soon to change as the Meadows will take a short break with no live racing during the first week of April, but racing will return after that on a four-days per week basis with racing Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Post time will remain at 12:45 pm for each live racing day in April. As the weather is getting warmer, it serves as a reminder that Stakes season is fast approaching at the Meadows. The Currier and Ives will take place first for the three-year-old trotters in June and will be followed by the Adios Pace and the Adioo Volo towards the end of July. As of the most recent Stakes payment, there are a lot of eligibles to all four Stakes: 57 trotters for the Open Currier and Ives division, 40 for the fillies division, 85 for the Adios Pace, and 61 for the Adioo Volo. It’ll be a fun watch over the coming months to see which horses and connections will ultimately make an appearance at the Meadows this year for these prestigious Stakes races.
Regarding this week’s racing, there’s some series finals on the cards, including two on Thursday, March 21st. Race 8 will offer the Mary Wohlmuth Memorial Final for 3 and 4-year-old filly and mare trotters. #2 BET ON BRENNA and #3 DAYLIGHTS DAUGHTER have taken turns beating one another in the preliminary legs and both hold strong chances coming into this week’s Final. However, for a little bit more of a price, I’ll take a chance on #9 LEXI B. She’s the stablemate to BET ON BRENNA and just made her career debut in a winning effort last week. This is an awkward post for just her second career start, but she’s definitely not out of the question at the right price if she can take another step forward here.
The other series final on Thursday is the Dale McConnell Memorial Final for 3 and 4-year-old colt and gelding trotters that will take place in Race 10. The race will see a heavy favorite in the form of #4 CARRERA HANOVER, who has won 3-of-3 in 2024 impressively after a winless 2023. He’ll likely be a very short price, but so long as he minds his manners, it’s tough to see him being beat in this spot. As a result, the exacta could be the play in this race and in particular, #2 YEN HANOVER at 20-1 on the morning line could be the play in the second spot. He just missed two back in a preliminary leg and had to settle for fourth last time out off a tough first over try against CARRERA HANOVER. He draws well for the Final though and will look to be close enough to the action early to snag second in the end. As always, best of luck in all your plays this week at the Meadows and enjoy the racing!
