East Rutherford, NJ --- Golden Receiver prevailed by a neck over Lisagain after a lengthy battle in the $25,000 opening leg of the Four Leaf Clover Series Saturday night at Meadowlands Racetrack.
Golden Receiver fired to the front in a :26.4 opening quarter and matched strides with Lisagain through middle fractions of :57 and 1:24.1 before edging away in the final strides. Driven by Andy Miller, Golden Receive posted a final quarter of :27 flat toward a 1:51.4 clocking. Sent off as the 8-5 second choice, he paid $5.20. It was three lengths back to 6-5 favorite Pacinello, who never left the pylons.
Golden Receiver, trained by Mark Harder, improved his record to 16 wins in 40 career starts. The 5-year-old son of Village Jove-Royal Gold is owned by Stable 45, Richard Taylor, Stephen Springer and Nina Simmonds.
Earlier in the night, Alexie Mattosie turned in a game, front-end performance to win the first of the two Four Leaf Clover divisions over Pangiorno in 1:50.3. Livefreeordiehard, the overwhelming 3-5 betting choice, faded to third after challenging the winner through the backstretch.
Alexie Mattosie paid $14.80 as he posted his first victory in eight starts this season.
Anthony Montini trains the 4-year-old son of No Pan Intended-Dame Crombie for Donald Lindsey, Paul Kleinpaste, William Alempijevic and Dennis Mavrin.
The Four Leaf Clover Series continues with a second leg on March 13 and concludes with a $132,000 (est.) final on March 20.