Benefitting from a typical early-speed drive from Joe Bongiorno, Djimon crushed eight overmatched foes in the Friday night feature at The Meadowlands, a high-end conditioned event for trotters that went for a purse of $15,000 ...
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ -- November 13, 2026 -- Benefitting from a typical early-speed drive from Joe Bongiorno, Djimon crushed eight overmatched foes in the Friday night feature at The Meadowlands, a high-end conditioned event for trotters that went for a purse of $15,000.
Bongiorno, who also trains the 6-year-old gelded son of Tactical Landing-Sheena’s Shadow, scorched the mile oval from the start, grabbing the lead midway around the first turn before reaching the quarter in a sharp :27.3.
The speed show continued down the backside. Djimon reached the half in :54.4 as 1-5 favorite Monserrate was racing second-over behind a tired Glutes Hanover. Bongiorno continued with his foot down on the pedal as Djimon opened up 4½ lengths on the field at three-quarters in 1:22.4 before a :28.2 kicker completed a dazzling 1:51.1 career-best mile. Monserrate finished 8¼ lengths back in second with Pierre In Paris third.
“I’ve probably changed this horse’s shoes 10 times since I’ve had him,” said Bongiorno. “And I finally got the right shoeing on him where he’s not hitting his right hind any more.
“When this horse trots, he has a wicked turn of foot. He does it very easily and he doesn’t seem like he gets tired. Once I made the front, I wasn’t going to let anybody go. He can carry his speed a long way. I liked this horse since day one.”
Owned by El Dorado Stables, Djimon upped his lifetime stats to 22 wins from 93 starts, good for earnings of $382,163. He paid $8 as the 3-1 second choice.
A LITTLE MORE: Bradley Chisholm and Brett Beckwith led the driver colony with three wins apiece. … Bongiorno and Veronica Spicer topped the trainers with a pair of victories each. … All-source handle on the 14-race program totaled $2,049,106. … Racing resumes Saturday at 6:20 p.m. with the last major night of stakes action on the harness racing 2026 calendar as Fall Final Four/FanDuel Championships Night will offer eight races, with purses totaling just over $2.2 million.
