Abbeylara loves to win from off the pace. So much, in fact, that he did it for a second straight start at the Meadowlands, hitting the wire a head in front of The Bruiser to win the Dash For The “G” Notes Final Thursday night. Pumped Up Kicks was third.

Abbeylara moved into the Nick Surick barn less than a month ago, and it’s been all systems go ever since. He won his first start as a Surick student on Nov. 24 at Freehold before finishing second at the half-mile track in his next outing.

The nine-year-old gelded son of Dragon Again-Lisbella came to the Big M on Dec. 6 and won his Dash For The “G” Notes preliminary by splitting rivals late, and this time around, he was equally impressive.

Driver Andy Miller had Abbeylara away in fifth, and when he moved to the outside at the half, he gapped his cover in what looked to be a sub-par effort. But Miller kept Abbeylara in the hunt, and with a little more than an eighth of a mile to go, Abbeylara started rolling, getting up in deep stretch to nail the speedy The Bruiser in a remarkably game effort in 1:53.1.

Abbeylara’s night was over, but Surick’s had just begun.

Surick, whose 136 winners at Freehold are 105 more than his closest pursuer, also won the ninth (with Ella Christina) and 10th (Ideal Romance) races on the card. His three winners doubled his Big M meet total.

MELADYS MONET ROLLS: Showing no ill effects of having been on the sidelines since June 24, lifetime $1.3 million earner Meladys Monet had explosive late trot to win the overnight feature, a $15,000 conditioned event, in 1:53 as the 3-5 public choice, gunning down Misslarose at the wire after swinging three-wide at three-quarters.

A LITTLE MORE: Track Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Jason Settlemoir called the races as the Big M continued its Thursday night “Borrow Ken’s Binoculars” promotion, with Ken Warkentin stepping aside to bring some new voices to the Big M faithful. Peter Kleinhans is up next Thursday. … It was a good night to be a driving Miller, as eight of the 10 races on the card were taken by Andy (3), Brett (3), Dave and Marcus. … Andy McCarthy won the second race to up his meet-leading driver-win total to 31. … All-source handle on the card was $1,153,995. … Racing resumes Friday at 7:15 p.m. … Remember, there is no racing Saturday due to the New York Jets game at MetLife Stadium.

(Meadowlands)