Noel Daley is a busy man ...
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ -- May 29, 2025 -- Noel Daley is a busy man.
The 2024 Dan Patch Trainer of the Year Award winner is a humble sort who was grateful to take home that hardware.
“It’s not something you focus on, but it’s nice to get it,” said Daley, who came to the United States from Australia 36 years ago. “We had a good year, so we’ll take it.”
The busy part? Daley has a shedrow that is currently packed to capacity. “Unfortunately, we have about 75 horses, which is a lot,” said Daley, clearly kidding around. “I’m trying not to have as many racehorses. I’ve got 45 2-year-olds, which is crazy. I’ve never had that many. I like doing the young ones.”
That’s for later in 2025. As for 2024, Daley reflected on a pair of standouts under his watch, the 3-year-old male Trotter of the Year, Sig Sauer, and 3-year-old male Pacer of the Year, Captain Albano.
Sig Sauer (Muscle Hill-Sigilwig) won half of his 10 starts a year ago, including the Kentucky Futurity at The Red Mile as well as the Stanley Dancer and Breeders Crown, which were both at The Meadowlands. He banked $871,812.
“I wasn’t quite sure we got there [in the Breeders Crown],” said Daley of his horse’s nose win over T C I. “I actually said to [T C I’s trainer] Ron Burke, ‘Did I win or did you?’, but he knew and said ‘Yes, you won it’.”
“Sig Sauer was a challenging horse to have,” said Daley. “He was a handful to be around but he was a very professional racehorse. He overcame whatever he had to overcome to win his races.”
Now a sire at Hanover Shoe Farms, Daley thinks his stud career should be a good one.
“He’s got everything that you would want,” said Daley. “We paid $200,000 for him, which was a lot for us. A magnificent horse. He had a lot of attitude to him. He thought he was a good horse.”
During a season that saw him win 12 of 18 starts and earn over $1.1 million, Captain Albano (Captaintreacherous-Angelou) was the winner of the Little Brown Jug, Hempt and Adios, and was nothing short of spectacular in his final outing of the season, when he went parked into an opening quarter of :25.1 only to reign supreme at the wire by 2¼ lengths in 1:49.1 around Dover Downs’ five-eighths-mile oval.
He was on his way to stud duty, but that stage of his career will have to wait.
“To be fair to him, we raced him right until the end [of the year],” said Daley. “We test-breeded him basically straight off the track and the numbers weren’t good enough. We were hoping they would get better, but it was late and we couldn’t make people wait, so we said we’ll bring him back [and race] this year and try again to breed him next year.”
Daley admitted he was OK at the prospect of having ‘The Captain’ come back this year.
So, how are things looking?
“He really did well [when third in his second qualifier last Saturday],” said Daley. “He’s probably too big, so we’ll come back next week and put the screws to him.”
He should be ready to race in a few weeks.
One horse who is already off to a good start in 2025 is Smooth Dream, who remained perfect in five starts this year after taking the New Jersey Sire Stakes 3-year-old male pacing final in 1:50.3 last Saturday. All of his outings this season have come at the East Rutherford mile oval.
“You know as much about him as I do,” said Daley. “I got him three or four weeks before he was ready to qualify. He’s been nothing but great. He had a chip in his ankle, so he only had a couple of starts (three) last year. [His connections] didn’t know enough about him, so probably the only mistake it looks like they’ve made so far is under-staking him.”
The son of Cattlewash-Dreamlands Latte is a gelding, so it’s something not usually done, but is it possible the horse could be supplemented to the Meadowlands Pace?
“We’ll have to see. That decision is up to [the owners]. It’s a big ask,” said Daley. “We’ll see what the competition looks like at the time. He basically only has the New Jersey races [on his schedule for this year]. We have looked through to see if there are some races that make sense to supplement to. Being a gelding, that’s your challenge there. We’ll take him week-to-week.”
Daley has little to do when it comes to Smooth Dream, but has some things to improve upon with his Hambletonian hopeful, Onajetplane (Walner-Noble Lover), the winner of the 2024 New Jersey Classic final.
“He was disappointing [last Saturday morning when fifth in his qualifier],” said Daley. “We started a little later with him. This horse trained down good but he’ll have to come back next week and show me a little more. He didn’t finish last year great. The Hambletonian is your first serious race. Everything you do is surrounded by that race. If he’s not ready at that time, well, then he can’t be in it. You have to be realistic.”
WHEN IS LIVE RACING? During the months of May and June, live racing at The Big M will be conducted every Friday and Saturday with a first-race post-time of 6:20 p.m.
WHAT’S GOING ON? Check out the live “Racing from The Meadowlands” pregame show every Friday and Saturday when track announcer Ken Warkentin opens up the mic with a scene set and program changes at 5:45 p.m.
At that point, Warkentin will then throw to the Sam McKee Memorial Broadcast Set, from where The Big M’s Dave Little and Jessica Otten will provide news, notes, selections and a look at the night’s featured races.
John Rallis, who divides his on-camera time between The Big M and Woodbine Mohawk Park when not serving as an editor and columnist at TROT Magazine, will be handling interviews from the back paddock as well as providing commentary and selections on the FanDuel Television (FDTV) feed.
LUCHA DWARFANATORS: If you want to see something different and fun that’s family friendly, head for the track on Saturday (May 31) and see Los Mini Enmascarados (Mini Masked Wrestlers) perform the unique Mexican Cultural Art of Lucha Libre in the ring, which includes flying aerials, scissor kicks and wheelbarrow holds.
The first match takes place at 7 p.m. with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. Matches will take place between the live harness races.
According to their website, dwarfanators.com, “Center Stage Entertainment brings to you the Extreme Dwarfanators Wrestling! As we are one of the best dwarf wrestling shows in the business and we are ready to put on a show you’ll never forget.
“While some call it midget wrestling, we call it Dwarfanators wrestling! Whether you’re looking for laughs or thrills, our show has it all. Our micro or dwarf wrestlers are incredibly athletic and consistently put on a great show that is sure to entertain. We have been entertaining for over 10 years, selling out shows in event centers, arenas, casinos and nightclubs.”
For tickets, go here.
EIGHT IS ENOUGH: The handicapping stars from last Saturday’s (May 24) Big M card were back-paddock interviewer Joe Romanelli and on-set TV host Little, who both selected eight winners on the 14-race program.
Both touts gave out value play Saulsbrook Hero, who paid $6.20 in the second race. Romanelli also saw his best bet, Nineteenth Man A, win the first race and return $3.20.
Warkentin wasn’t far behind the prolific pair, correctly selecting seven winners, which came precisely eight days after the red-hot voice of The Big M had another seven-winner night.
CATCH THAT FOX: For a fifth consecutive year, the TV teams at the New York Racing Association (NYRA) and The Meadowlands are combining forces to bring high-caliber harness racing stakes events to a national television audience over the networks of FOX Sports as part of NYRA’s “America’s Day at the Races” telecasts.
Here is the schedule for the remaining FOX Sports shows, with the event(s) that will be featured and the time the show will be broadcast. Which FOX network the show can be found on – Fox 5 New York (locally), FS1 or FS2 – will be determined:
· June 28 – Perfect Sting, Brower Memorial, Crawford Farms, Six Pack, 8-11 p.m., TBA
· July 5 – Stan Bergstein Graduate finals; Meadowlands Pace eliminations, 8-11 p.m., TBA
· July 12 – Meadowlands Pace Night (multiple stakes), 8-11 p.m., TBA
· August 2 – Hambletonian Day (multiple stakes), 1-7 p.m., TBA
· September 5 – New Jersey Classic Series finals, 8-11 p.m., TBA
· November 1 – Kindergarten finals, 8-11 p.m., TBA
· November 15 – Fall Final Four, 8-11 p.m., TBA
PLAY HORSEPLAY, WIN A CAR: The extremely popular Horseplay Car Giveaway has returned.
When there is live racing, fans can get involved by picking up a free toy horse to toss. Participants attempt to throw their numbered horse into the window of a moving car. A winner, randomly chosen from all the horses that make it into the vehicle, will receive a $100 betting voucher. The 27 winners will be entered into the Horseplay final drawing on Friday, Aug. 1, and have a chance to win a 2025 Toyota GR86.
THEY ARE FA-REEE! To show appreciation to its loyal fan base, The Meadowlands offers free program pages for every race of every race card on its website.
Go to playmeadowlands.com, then click on the “news” dropdown to get the past performances at absolutely no cost.
SOCIALLY SUPERIOR: Everything Meadowlands is available by going on X. You can check in with the Big M team for early changes, racing information and staff selections by going to @themeadowlands or #playbigm.
Stay in touch with The Big M talent trio of Otten (@JessicaOtten1), Little (@DaveLittleBigM) and Warkentin (@kenvoiceover).
A GREAT NIGHT OUT: Looking to book a corporate event or private party? The Meadowlands has unlimited event possibilities. The redesigned Gallery with multiple TVs, private bar and balcony overlooking the FanDuel Sportsbook is perfect for game days, watch parties and more.
To book your private party, email alokshin@playmeadowlands.com.
FANDUEL IS NO. 1: Meadowlands regulars know that if they want action on professional and college sports, all they have to do is head for the FanDuel Sportsbook, which is the No. 1 facility of its kind in all of North America.
It couldn’t be easier to access, as it’s located inside the grandstand at The Big M.
The book has massive TV screens and self-service betting terminals, which enable fans to watch and wager in comfort while having some great food and drink.
Game 5 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals takes place Thursday (May 29) at 8 p.m. with the Indiana Pacers heading to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Knicks. The Pacers lead the best-of-7 series three games to one, so the Knicks must win to stay alive for a shot to play in the NBA Finals.
Thursday night, the Knicks are a 4-point favorite in the game that has an under/over of 223 points.
Whatever the sport, for the latest odds, go here.
The FanDuel Sportsbook is open for business Monday through Friday 10 a.m. – 1 a.m.; Saturday 8 a.m. – 1 a.m.; and Sunday 8 a.m. – midnight.
