Big M has been longshot heaven of late
At 0h06, on January 31, 2025 • By Meadowlands Media Relations
The Meadowlands is historically known as a track where favorites can be vulnerable, the result of its mile circumference, competitive fast-paced racing and big 10-horse fields, but lately, even those who love it when bombs drop near the Jersey swamp must be a little surprised at how prolific these horses have been.
The last three race cards at The Big M (Jan. 18, Jan. 24 and Jan. 25) have seen a big handful of eye-popping results.
The laundry list of horses paying $50 or more over that span:
Saturday, Jan. 18
Race 1, Captain Marvel, 36-1 odds, paying $74.60 to win
Race 6, Genius Man, 74-1, $150.60
Race 11, Lava Field, 46-1, $95.60
In addition, 82-1 shot Spirit Of Truth won race two, but returned $42.60 after being part of the first triple dead heat in track history.
Friday, Jan. 24
Race 1, Heartlandbanysbro, 76-1, $154.40
Race 2, Rockinwiththebest, 27-1, $57.40 (Daily Double paid $4,637.40)
Race 5, Second Bruiser, 44-1, $90.20
Race 7, Corsini A, 55-1, $112.80
Saturday, Jan. 25
Race 9, Sling Shock, 72-1, $146.40
Race 12, Spirit Of Truth, 56-1, $115.40
That 42-race span saw nine winners pay over $50 (21 percent) and five that returned over $100 (12 percent). Ironically, chalk players weren’t left out in the cold, as favorites still managed to win 18 times, a track-typical 43 percent.
Over the span, the average win price was a hefty $31.83.
“We tend to have our share of big-priced winners,” said Big M Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Jason Settlemoir. “It’s not very often we go through a streak like this, but when we do, it creates a lot of excitement for our fan base. And on Friday, the longshot winners created a big carryover. Something our fans always go for in a big way.”
Friday’s fireworks festival led to a carryover of $28,744, which motivated bettors to pour an astonishing $183,943 of “new money” into the Saturday 20-cent Pick-5 pool for a grand total of $212,687.
Unlike the Friday night sequence that created the carryover, winner’s odds Saturday were a more reasonable 6-1, 17-1, 3-2, 13-1 and 1-5. There were 66 winning tickets exchanged for $2,787.26 after the Ron Burke-trained, Yannick Gingras-driven Antognoni S scored as the heavy public choice in the payoff leg (race five), ending what turned out to be a de facto Pick-4 for those who singled the 1-5 public choice.
