EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Apex won the $1 million Hambletonian Stakes for 3-year-old trotters Saturday at the Meadowlands, holding off favorite Big Ranger by a nose in a stakes-record 1:49.2. Apex gave trainer Marcus Melander and driver Dexter Dunn their first Hambletonian wins. Melander had finished second in America’s Trotting Classic four times, including three of the past four years. Two races prior to the Hambletonian, Melander-trained Nezuko Kamado S won the filly companion race, the Hambletonian Oaks, by a neck over Carve. Melander became the fourth trainer to win the Hambletonian and Oaks in the same year, joining Jimmy Takter (twice), Jim Campbell and Jan Johnson.