by Lou Monaco,
Meadowlands Media
East Rutherford, NJ — Lather Up, the fastest horse in the 43-year
history of The Meadowlands, captured the $423,000 William R. Haughton Memorial
by one length on Saturday (June 13) at The Meadowlands.
The 4-year-old stallion,
trained by Clyde Francis of the George Teague Jr. stable and driven by Montrell
Teague, never missed a beat after taking the lead prior to the half mile in
:53.1, and stormed home to complete a mile and an eighth in 2:01.1 over 10-1
This Is The Plan, driven by Yannick Gingras.
Last Saturday, Lather Up
won the $250,000 Graduate Series final by equaling the all-time mile record of
1:46 set by then 5-year-old Always B Miki at Red Mile three years ago. He also
broke the previous 4-year-old pacing mark of 1:46.4, previously shared by
Warrawee Needy and Dr J Hanover.
“I just wanted to make
sure I was up close and wanted to be close to the pace,” said Montrell Teague.
“I was happy with the fractions. It’s a bit different at a mile and an eighth,
because you're not sure how fast you are going, but I was trying not to back
down and he got the job done.”
Lather Up, who paid
$5.80 to his backers to win, improved his record to 6-0-1 in nine starts.
“Montrell does a great
job with him and he (Lather Up) can do whatever he wants. That’s how good he
has been racing,” said Francis.
This Is The Plan, who
finished second in four of his last five starts, took the runner-up spot again,
while Always a Prince and David Miller finished third.
