In keeping with our "real time" theme here, let's take a quick look at a couple of situations which could be relevant for tonight's card at the Meadowlands …

First, I need not say this, but I will. At least during this series, you should be saving ALL the Meadowlands charts. I will include the relevant portions here, at least for now, but to make things easier on me and you - have them ready.

Also -- during these daily supplements, I will be asking questions. The first person to respond with the correct answer for the question will get into GOLD CLUB for the upcoming month, so stay tuned.

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Well, the topic of our follow-up question from 2 days ago, which we pointed out yesterday was #10 COINKYDINK, who went off last night at 15-1 and just missed by a neck to the favorite, closing nicely. In fact, with those 2 being the only 2 in-shape animals in the race, the exacta of about $60 was a beauty! In Gold Club, we recommended #10 COINKYDINK to win, and a 3-10 exacta box. In one of our other 2 races, race 1, #6 HEATHER WEATHER was scratched, making $11 a very nice price on #7 DUKE'S RANGER, also clearly sharp there, and a nice one for the chartist who pay attention to middle halves (which we will get to).

The answer to yesterdays quiz - which night would be better for spotting sharp front-runners, 4/15 or 4/16, all things being equal - was 4/16. The reason for this is that if you compare the fractions of those 2 nights, you will notice that the first halves were noticeably faster on 4-15. In fact, so were the middle halves! With much softer front portions on 4/16 - we would have expected better performances on the front end. The tougher evening on 4/15 therefore, is a better place to look at the action on the front end for signs of shape.

Let's stick with the "front-end" theme of this week's Handicapping Corner and look at something relevant for tonight's (Friday) card at the Meadowlands. Lets look at Race 10, and the line of #8 BALL HOP. It looks like this:

27.4  56.3  126.2  114.2     7    2/1½   2/1¼    2/1½   2/1¾    2/¾

All in all, this looks like a pluperfect pocket trip on Friday, 4/16. But lets take a closer look at that race. First, while the front end fractions on 4/16 were generally light, BALL HOP's race, Race 3, was one of the 2 which stuck out as being noticeably faster.

M    ,19990416,6,03        THE MEADOWLANDS             RACE DATE:   04/16/1999
RACE: 03       TYPE: LATE BETTING         CLASS: M20000CL           GAIT: PACE
EVENT:
PURSE:    14,500  TRACK COND: SLOPPY   TIME: 0:27.4 - 0:56.3 - 1:26.2 - 1:54.2
                                                            -- TIME --
    HORSE NAME      POST  1/4  1/2  3/4 STRETCH   FINISH    ACTUAL  LQ   ODDS
DREAMLAND'S ONYVA     3   4p   1p    1    1/1T     1/T      1:54.2 28     *120
BALL HOP              7    2    2    2    2/1T     2/T      1:54.3 28      900
OUR COMMITMENT        6    7   6p   3p    3/1T     3/1      1:54.3 27.4    450
CAM BIRD              9    9    9   7p    5/4T     4/1H     1:54.3 27.1   1650
SWINGING VICTORIA     2   1p    3    4    4/3T     5/3      1:55.0 28     2240
LEGAL BELLE           4    5    5    8    8/7Q     6/5H     1:55.2 27.4    740
MACKS TABLE           8    8   8p   5p    6/5      7/5H     1:55.2 28.1    460
HIDDEN PRINCESS       1    3    4    6    7/6Q     8/7      1:55.4 28.2   8820
ROYAL REVELATION      5    6    7    9    9/12Q    9/11T    1:56.4 28.4   1160
DRIVERS: M. LACHANCE, L.R. OUELLETTE, R.D. PIERCE, D.S. MILLER,
D. DUBE, C.R. MANZI, M.J. SORENTINO, M. ROMANO, J.D. CAMPBELL

Also, the story here is unclear … BALL HOP definitely left hard from post 7 and #1 HIDDEN PRINCESS probably stepped out of there to protect position too. Before the quarter, however, #2 SWINGING VICTORIA is on the move, parked 2nd on the outside. However, at the ½, BALL HOP is again on the rail, dueling for the lead with a razor sharp DREAMLAND'S ONYVA! How did she get there? One of 2 explanations. Either BALL HOP yielded to #2 and retook, then parked the favorite, or, she stepped on the gas, refusing to yield, and put #2 back in the hole awaiting the challenge from the favorite. Either way, this constituted very hard and effective usage in what was a very quick first half for that night! Furthermore, it is unclear as to whether BALL HOP had ample racing room and she did close to miss by only ¾ of a length. All in all, a much different story than the apparent easy pocket trip that the program line suggests, wouldn't you say?

Today's bonus question relates to the front end action on Sunday, 4/18. On this card, there was only ONE race which immediately grabs my eye in terms of the speed story. Who can tell me what it is, and which horse or horses you would be inclined to follow out of this race?