By Dave Little, Meadowlands Media
Relations
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Caviart Ally,
Always A Prince and The Downtown Bus all established lifetime bests while
Always A Prince went one step further, going a Meadowlands’ season’s-fastest
1:47.3 Friday night at the Big M.
One week ago, Caviart Ally equaled
her lifetime-best of 1:48.3 in the final leg of the Rainbow Blue Series for
mare pacers and was even faster Friday, stopping the clock in 1:48 in the
series' final. The 5-year-old daughter of Bettor’s Delight-Allamerican Cool
stayed perfect in four Meadowlands starts this year by clearing to the lead
before the half, hitting three-quarters in 1:22.2, then exploding home in :25.3
to seal the deal for driver Andy McCarthy. Apple Bottom Jeans completed the
$4.20 Exacta, finishing 2 lengths behind the winner. Bettor’s Up was third.
The Brett Pelling-trained Caviart
Ally returned $2.40 to win, and now has 20 victories in 61 starts, good for
earnings of just a hair under $1.3 million.
“She was great tonight,” said
McCarthy. “I think Brett has got her spot-on at the moment. She was very
straight and focused on her job. I’m extremely happy and excited going
forward.”
In the first of two divisions of the
fourth and final leg of the Graduate Series for 4-year-olds on the pace, Always
A Prince went first-over for most of the final half-mile, grabbed the lead at
the head of the stretch and held off the late-rallying 4-5 favorite Jimmy
Freight – who was raging along the inside – by a head. American History, who
was towed into contention by the eventual winner, settled for third.
Always A Prince, who returned $9.40
as the second choice in the wagering, is a son of Always A Virgin-Glorious
Princess who was driven by Dave Miller. The Tyler George trainee now has 21
wins from just 29 lifetime starts and has banked almost $550,000.
“Not at all,” said Miller if he was
surprised at how good his horse was. “I knew what he was capable of. He raced
great and went a big mile.”
The Downtown Bus sat a three-hole
trip to score in the other Graduate division in 1:48. Shadow Cat cut out
sizzling fractions of :25.4, :54.1 and 1:21.3 but stopped in the stretch,
allowing the pocket-sitting 4-5 favorite Courtly Choice the opportunity to go
on to what appeared to be an easy win, but Tim Tetrick put The Downtown Bus
right behind Courtly Choice as that one vacated the pocket on the far turn,
then ducked to the inside with an eighth of a mile to go before using some
explosive pace on the way to an easy 2½-length score. Rock Lights was third.
A son of Mach Three-Slimsplace, The
Downtown Bus is trained by Jeffrey Gillis and paid $8.00 as the second choice
in the betting. He now has 15 lifetime wins from 46 starts and earnings of
$414,505.
“On the middle of the last turn my
horse felt great,” said Tetrick. “’The Bus’ is just a cool little horse.”
After The Downtown Bus hit the wire,
the Meadowlands became the first track in the sport this year to have three
miles of 1:48 or faster on a single race card.
A LITTLE MORE: The Graduate Finals for both trotters
and pacers are on July 6. … Tetrick and Scott Zeron both recorded driving
triples while Yannick Gingras and Miller had two apiece. … Chalk players had a
big night, as eight favorites scored on the 14-race program. … The fifth race
20-Cent Jackpot Super High-Five failed to result in a single-ticket winner,
upping the carryover to $117,559. … All-source handle totaled $2,319,581. …
Racing resumes Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
