EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – Over the past two years, Highalator has impressed time and again at The Meadowlands, and Saturday night at the mile oval, he brought his ‘A’ game once again in defeating a talented field in the featured $18,500 high-end conditioned pace.
Unlike his Big M score on June 6 at
odds of 42-1 from post 10 from off the pace, driver Ricky Still had the
6-year-old son of Somebeachsomewhere-Higher And Higher on the go early from
post 8, following 6-5 favorite Angers Bayama around the first turn. Angers
Bayama – seeking his fourth straight win – led at the quarter in :26.2, but
Highalator surged to the top shortly thereafter, securing the lead at the
three-eighths before being permitted to rate the half in :54.4.
Donttellmeagain was now on the move
as Tim Tetrick asked that one for pace, and the pair made up ground racing on
the rim down the backside and around the far turn, and were just off the
leader’s flank at the head of the stretch.
But just as he did while sweeping the
2019 Golden Receiver Series at The Big M, Highalator found more.
Through the stretch, Highalator had
to contend with a pesky Donttellmeagain to his outside and Angers Bayama to his
inside. But Highalator was up to the task, fending off that two-pronged attack
to score by a safe head after pacing his final quarter in :26.4. Angers Bayama
finished second with Donttellmeagain third.
The Jenny Bier trainee, who paid
$11.00 to win as the third choice, stopped the clock in 1:49 and now has 36
wins from 80 lifetime starts for owners Jenny Bier, Joann Dombeck and Midsize
Construction Inc. His earnings are now just shy of $600,000.
A LITTLE MORE: Hambletonian champion Ramona Hill
qualified Saturday morning, winning from off the pace in 1:53.1. … The program
marked the start of The Big M’s new 10-cent Pentafectas. The fifth race
combination of 9-3-4-10-1 was good for a payoff of $689.34, while the 13th
race paid $132.07 for a ticket bearing the combination 3-8-5-2-4. The second
and third choices finished in the top two in both races. … Wagering on the
13-race program totaled $2,594,313. … Racing resumes Friday at 7:15 p.m.
