This Friday, Dec. 28, racing returns to the Meadowlands, in East Rutherford New Jersey. Back in 1976 when horseracing debuted there, 42,133 fans turned out to see the trotters and pacers compete over the one mile oval. Seen as a premier track for many years, recently its fate was tenuous. This season brings changes, as owner/”the boss” Jeff Gural has installed a new front office staff, revamped the stakes schedule and the betting menu, along with reviving the old ABC letter system for classified racing for condition (not claiming) horses. The latter , he believes, will produce better betting races, more value, and fewer short priced horses. To read more about this and get a list of the horses classifications by name, visit www.thebigm.com/news select the story on Classified Racing and print out the list.

Post time for this week-ends cards is 7:15 p.m. There is now an early Pick 4 with a guaranteed pool of $25,000 (races 3-6). The $15,000 Pick 5 (races 1-5) and the $50,000 Late Pick 4 (races 7-10) return to the wagering format. In January and February, every Friday’s program will be available for free to download on the website, courtesy of Trackmaster PP’s.