Undefeated three year old pacers Wiggle It JiggleIt and National
Seelster set for confrontation
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ
– (March
5, 2015) Emerging from the winter and the snow each year at The Meadowlands
there is a three year old pacer that captures the imagination and brings a
wonder of what could be on the horizon. This year, there are two, Wiggle
It JiggleIt and National Seelster.
While it may not be
the Final of the Buddy Gilmour just yet, all eyes will be on the early season
clash between this pair of unbeaten sophomore pacers. While the two enter
the contest with unblemished records (Wiggle It JiggleIt a perfect four for
four and National Seelster three for three), their style of winning has been
rather different.
Wiggle It Jiggleit
started his career with a six-length romp in 1:51.2 at Pocono in his only start
as a two year old. His connections gave their horse time to develop and brought
him back in January where he dominated a non-winners of two field at Dover by
over a dozen lengths.
Six days later,
National Seelster made his lifetime debut, rallying from well off the pace,
showing professionalism in his first lifetime start, winning by a length.
The colt followed that win up with a pocket-sitting, last-second surge to
narrowly win by a neck. Both wins coming in non-winners of two company at
The Meadowlands.
Both undefeated,
but National Seelster had been tested. Wiggle It JiggleIt had not.
His connections thought enough of him to enter him in the Sonsam series against
older horses where he won, powering up first over in an eye-opening 1:49.4
performance. The winners circle reaction appeared more like a mid-summer
stakes race, as the connections new they had something special.
His regular driver,
Montrell Teague is excited about his potential and noted in a Meadowlands
interview that all eyes are on the future. “We’ll race him in the Gilmour
series and then shut him down until May,” said Teague. “He’s staked well
so we’ll look to some races in New Jersey and focus on The Meadowlands Pace and
a couple of other big ones.”
National Seelster
has also been paid into The Meadowlands Pace.
Both three year
olds headed into their respective starts in the first round of the Buddy
Gilmour as prohibitive favorites and neither disappointed. With Wiggle It
JiggleIt dominating from start to finish to win in 1:51.2, and National
Seelster making a move around the far turn and wearing down his opposition to
win in 1:52 flat. Due to the brilliance and dominance that Wiggle It
Jiggleit has displayed, he has been installed as the 3/5 morning line favorite
for the matchup, with National Seelster an 8/5 second choice. The two
will meet in the second race on Saturday night, the first of two Buddy Gilmour
divisions. The second division goes postward as race 11 on the 13-race
program.
On the wagering
front, it features three guaranteed pools. The $.50 cent pick five in
race one, a pool that has averaged over $50,000 each night, the $.50 cent early
pick four in race three, also averaging over $50,000 per night and the $.50
cent late pick four in race seven, which has featured an average pool of over
$75,000. As usual, there will be a pair of $.20 cent Jackpot Super Hi-5 wagers,
with a low eight-percent (8%) takeout in races 5 and 13. Going into the
Friday program, the fifth race carryover was $41,316 and the 13th
race carryover stood at $148,526. Post time for The Meadowlands Saturday
program is 7:15 P.M.
