EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The routine was one Gregg Sacco followed because that’s just the way it always was. Like a lot of New Jersey-based trainers, Sacco would essentially shut down his operation for the winter when Monmouth Park closed.

That changed two years ago at the suggestion of his son Will, who pitched the idea of spending winters at Tampa Bay Downs to have a year-round stable. It’s a move that continues to pay dividends.

Heading into Friday night’s six-race all-turf Monmouth-at-Meadowlands card (weather permitting) Sacco is having one of his best years in a career that began in 1988.

He has won with three of his first starters during the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet, and with three more entered on Friday he will look to add to a year that has already seen him win 42 races overall, his highest total since a career-best 44 wins in 2014.

“And we still have a few months to go,” said Sacco, who won the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands training title in 2014. “It has been a very productive year. We had a couple of ups and downs but overall it has been a good year.

“I can’t say enough about the job Will and the staff have done. We have a tremendous group of people working for us.”

Sacco has seen enough benefits from the year-round approach that he will expand a little more after the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet, taking 25 horses to Tampa Downs, with Will overseeing a string of 15 more in New York over the winter.

“I’m interested to see how Will does, since this will be his first time on his own,” said Sacco, who will handle the Florida division.

Sacco, currently atop the trainer standings at the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet, had a solid summer at Monmouth Park with a 10-14-11 line from 73 starters. He said he is most pleased with the career-best 22 percent winning rate the barn has from its 189 starters this year.

“Our goal was to win 20 or 25 races at Monmouth Park this year so we missed that goal,” he said. “We were top heavy with 2-year-olds. A lot of them are ready to run now. But we’re happy with the year. We’re winning at 22 percent, which is very hard to do as you head into October.”

One winner at the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet was particularly meaningful, he said. That was the victory by Duboff on opening night of the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet.

Duboff was named after Sacco’s late stepfather Steve Duboff, a prominent songwriter, producer and singer in the 1950s and 1960s. Among Duboff’s many hits were “We Can Fly” by the Cowsills and “The Pied Piper” for Crispin St. Peters.

Duboff, who also wrote songs for Ringo Starr, The Turtles, Connie Francis, Al Hirt, Wayne Newton, The Addrisi Brothers, The Monkees, Tom Petty, and Jimmy Buffett, passed away in 2004.

“That was Will’s idea. He said `you’re always talking about what a great guy your stepfather was why don’t we name a horse after him?’ So we did,” Sacco said.

A 2-year-old New Jersey-bred son of Handsome Mike, Duboff has a win and a second from his two career starts.

Post time for the Friday and Saturday Monmouth-at-Meadowlands cards is 7 p.m.