by Mike Farrell, for Meadowlands Media
Relations -
EAST
RUTHERFORD, N.J., Wiggle It Jiggleit is ideally positioned for the $706,000
Crawford Farms Meadowlands Pace.
The 4-5
favorite has a cozy starting spot, post 4 against nine rivals, in the
signature event at Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment on Saturday night.
The Pace tops
a compelling 14-race card that also includes $443,000 Hambletonian Maturity for
4-year-old trotters, the $430,600 William R. Haughton Memorial featuring
Free-For-All pacers, the $213,450 Golden Girls for Free-For-All pacing mares
and the $201,350 Mistletoe Shalee for 3-year-old pacing fillies.
Fans looking
ahead to the $1 million Hambletonian and $500,000 Hambletonian Oaks here on
Aug. 8 can check out many of the leading 3-year-old trotters in two divisions
of the Stanley Dancer Memorial and a single dash for the fillies in the Delvin
Miller Memorial.
But the night
belongs to the 3-year-old pacers, a division Wiggle It Jiggleit has dominated.
The son of Mr
Wiggles has won 14 of 15 races in his brilliant career for George Teague Jr.
“It’s been a
nice little run so far,” Teague said. “The draw didn’t hurt. We got the 4,
that’s a great spot.”
The lone loss
came in the North America Cup in late June at Mohawk Raceway. Wiggle It
Jiggleit did the heavy lifting that night, setting the pace until the final
strides when Wakizashi Hanover edged past for a 5-1 upset.
“You put that
behind you,” Teague said. “I’m not saying it won’t happen again. You just hope
it doesn’t happen too often in the major races. He raced great that night. He
just got caught.”
They have met
twice since then with Wiggle It Jiggleit prevailing in the Hempt Final at
Pocono Downs and in last week’s Meadowlands Pace eliminations.
The colt
showed a fresh dimension in the elimination with a dazzling closing kick in a
25 2/5 second final quarter with Montrell Teague, George’s son, in the sulky.
Usually a
domineering force on or near the pace, Wiggle It Jiggleit dropped back to sixth
before launching his bid.
“I don’t tell
him how to drive,” Teague said. “He said he was going to take him back and my
reply was ‘All the way to last?’ His intention was to race him off the pace.”
It didn’t
matter. Wiggle It Jiggleit tracked the move by archrival Wakizashi Hanover
before kicking clear to a length victory in 1:48 4/5.
That
versatility, the ability to challenge the pace early or rally late, makes
Wiggle It Jiggleit a handful for the competition.
“I feel
comfortable any way he races, if front or from behind,” Teague said. “He’s
fired every time he’s been in the (entry) box, regardless of the trip. He’s a
very intelligent horse. I don’t worry too much about that.”
Teague is
looking for his second Pace win, having taken the 2007 edition with Southwind
Lynx. Only one feeling could top that: a victory Saturday with his son at the
reins.
“I was
fortunate enough to win it one time before, and I still get a buzz from that
win,” Teague said. “Montrell has done me proud, and so has the horse. It would
add that much more to the race if we happen to win it.”
Wakizashi
Hanover and driver Tim Tetrick have the post position blues after landing the 9
as the 4-1 third choice on odds maker Darin Zoccali’s morning line.
“That didn’t
go in my favor there,” Tetrick said of the post. “I wish mine could have drawn
on the inside half of the gate. It is what it is. It’s just a starting spot.”
And hardly an
ideal one, especially with Wiggle It Jiggleit in the 4 slot.
“He’s going to
have the most options of anybody,” Tetrick said of the favorite. “Everyone is
going to want to either follow him or have him in play. It’s his race to win or
lose. I just wish we could have drawn in a little bit to have a fair shot at
him.”
Tetrick is a
four-time Pace winner, including the last two editions with Captaintreacherous
(2013) and He’s Watching (2014).
Wakizashi
Hanover, trained by Joann Looney-King and owned by the Tri County Stable from
Truro, Nova Scotia, has six wins and a pair of seconds in nine starts this
year.
The gelding
didn’t have the easiest trip in last week’s eliminations. He wound up
second-over behind long shot Lyons Levi Lewis, forcing Tetrick to move sooner
than he wanted with Wiggle It Jiggleit right on his back.
“He followed
me all the way and had a real good trip,” Tetrick said. “I had to come three
deep early.”
In The Arsenal
won the other Pace elimination, a career-best 1:49 1/5 victory with Brian Sears at the lines for
trainer Kelvin Harrison.
He starts from
post 6 as the 3-1 second choice.
This will be
Harrison’s first Pace starter in 23 years.
“We’re very
happy to be there,” Harrison said. “Hopefully things work out and we get a good
trip. We’ve got a couple of tough contenders in there.”
Starting with
Wiggle It Jiggleit.
“We’ve got one
shot I believe to beat Wiggle It Jiggleit and that’s to be very close to him.
We’ll start outside of him and go from there. We’ve had a tough grind of six
weeks and we’ve come through these races extremely well.”
In The Arsenal
was a yearling buy-back for White Birch Farms when the bidding topped out at
$7,500.
He turned into
a bargain, an 11-time winner with $751,693 in the bank.
Artspeak is
the 6-1 fourth choice from post 3 with Scott Zeron driving for trainer Tony
Alagna.
The colt
hasn’t hit his best stride this year after a freshman campaign in which he won
the Metro Pace, the Governor’s Cup and the Dan Patch Award as divisional
champion.
He was fourth
last week to In The Arsenal as the 1-2 favorite in his Pace elimination.
The other
contenders all offer double-digit odds. Dealt A Winner is 20-1 while Lyons Levi
Lewis, Dude’s The Man and Revenge Shark are 30-1.
Rock N’ Roll
World and Badiou Hanover are 50-1.
