The Canadian-owned Somesizesomestyle produced a giant-sized upset in the $16,000 pacing feature on Saturday (February 4) at The Meadowlands.
Drew Monti settled the six-year-old son of Somebeachsomewhere well off the early pace in eighth as Elrama led the field through a half-mile in :55.1 and three-quarters in 1:23.1. As the field headed into the stretch, the early fractions caught up to Elrama. Meadowlands specialist K Lees Shakenbake was rallying in full gear with Brett Miller as Monti rallied even wider and just made the front with Somesizesomestyle in the final strides as a 13-1 longshot. The time of the mile was 1:50.3.
“He has been sharp and always closing late, he has just been sort of rough-gaited late in the mile,” explained Monti, who posted a driving double. “Tonight, you could feel immediately he was sounder and he was ready to put in a huge effort.”
Somesizesomestyle, who finished second in the 2014 Breeders Crown Final when trained by Ron Burke, won for the 14th time in 97 career starts. With the win, he upped his career bankroll to $459,535 for trainer Larry Remmen amd owner Brad Grant of Milton, Ont.
Earlier in the night, Meadowlands Pace-eligible Highalator cruised in a non-winners of two race in 1:52.4 with a :26.2 last quarter. He was making just his fifth career start. Highalator is a homebred for Daryl Bier and Charles Dombeck by Somebeachsomewhere out of the duo’s $944,000-earner Higher And Higher.
Total handle on the 12-race program was $2,834,193.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)