January 20, 2000
The Meadowlands has canceled live racing for Thursday, January 20, 2000 due to inclement weather.
The track will remain open for simulcasting day and night and expects to resume live racing on Friday, January 21.
The first snow storm of the season also caused the cancellation of racing throughout the mid-Atlantic region, including Freehold, Turfway, Dover Downs, Laurel and Aqueduct.
"Because of the forecast for snow all day and the transportation difficulties it presents for our guests and the horsemen who ship in from farms and training centers throughout the area, we've decided to cancel Thursday's live racing," said Meadowlands Vice President and General Manager Chris McErlean.
The Thursday night card will be carried over to January 27.
While Dragon Again and Big Tom look to dominate the Presidential Series again this Saturday night at the Meadowlands, Noble Ability may be there to spoil things.
Racing for Bob Glazer's Peter Pan Stable, the six-year-old Albatross stallion is rated at 8-1 in the morning line from post six with Cat Manzi driving in the first of two $50,000 divisions, carded as races six and eight.
Noble Ability will once again have a chance to take on 3-5 morning line favorite Dragon Again, who is two-for-two at the Meadowlands in 2000, and has drawn post five in the field of nine.
Big Tom, who won his Meadowlands debut in 1:52.3, is the 8-5 morning line favorite from post four in the second division, which features eight starters.
The top 10 money winners from the two preliminary legs meet in a $100,000 final on January 29.
Glazer has been the leading owner in the sport for the past five years and the 1999 Owner of the Year set a record for purse earnings with over $5.2 million.
Last season, Noble Ability had his time in the Meadowlands spotlight for Glazer, capturing the Graduate Final in a stakes record of 1:49.2, and the Classic Series Final with a world record of 2:03.1 for a mile and one eighth. The six-year-old by Albatross defeated Pacer of the Year Red Bow Tie in both events.
In 1999, Noble Ability recorded five wins, seven seconds and three thirds and banked $483,910, third highest among older pacers. His lifetime earnings stand at $1,225,793.
"Last year, he was one of the few horses to beat Red Bow Tie on numerous occasions," noted Glazer, a 40-year-old Ohio native. "Certainly Red Bow Tie beat him more times. The Classic Series Final and the Graduate Final were his crowning achievements, plus, taking the sub-1:50 mark, and he finally went over a million dollars. Those were significant milestones."
Before entering the 2000 campaign, Noble Ability was freshened after a second-place finish to his newest archival, Dragon Again, at Mohawk Raceway on October 29. "He finished up strong," said Glazer. "Joe Stutzman has done a great, great job training him. He wanted to give him a couple of months off after that $100,000 invitational on Breeders Crown night. He raced very well."
In the Rambling Willie Invitational on January 7 at the Meadowlands, Noble Ability unleashed one of his characteristic late charges, a 26.3-second final quarter, but Dragon Again had already taken off. Noble Ability had to settle for second, beaten six lengths.
Noble Ability launched another one of his big late moves in the first leg of the Presidential on January 15 and was clearly second best, five and three-quarter lengths behind Dragon Again.
"Dragon Again is in really top form right now," noted Glazer. "I thought we were racing for second money, that's where we have finished and that's victory in and of itself. How do we beat him? I really don't know. I think in the mile and a sixteenth races!
"When you look at Dragon Again's races, occasionally he's vulnerable," he added. "If we have a racetrack that is not particularly speed biased, that might work against him, and sometimes it's difficult for horses to perform at that high level indefinitely. I'm hoping on a few occasions we can step up to the plate and get the best of him."
Glazer's 1999 Meadowlands Pace winner, The Panderosa, is standing his first season at Hanover Shoe Farm in Pennsylvania, and a stud career could be in Noble Ability's future, too.
"I try not to think about things like that," said Glazer. "I'll take it week by week. If he's competitive at the top level, then fine. I certainly hope he would be. There are certain markets where he would be successful stallion, but right now he's a racehorse."