Lucky Jim held off Enough Talk to win a showdown thriller in the $50,000 opening round of the Su Mac Lad Series Friday night at the Meadowlands
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With Andy Miller in tow, Lucky Jim marched to the lead around the first turn, leaving Enough Talk parked out and racing into second as they hit the opening quarter in :28.1. Lucky Jim released the pocket to Enough Talk, but quickly reclaimed the lead before the half in :56 flat and maintained a length and a half advantage as they rounded the final turn. Enough Talk angled out of the pocket at the head of the lane and the two Trotters of the Year slugged it out to the wire, with Lucky Jim holding on by a head in 1:52.1.
Lucky Jim, the 2009 divisional champion, won his sixteenth consecutive race at the Meadowlands for Andy's wife, trainer Julie Miller, and owners David and John Prushnok and William Gregg. Last year, Lucky Jim won 17 of 18 races, topped by a 1:50.1 World Record in the Nat Ray. The five-year-old son of S Js Photo-Hawaiian Sierra has now visited the winner's circle in 20 of 40 career starts for earnings in excess of $1.2 million.
The first stakes race of the season for free-for-all trotters, the Su Mac Lad culminates in an estimated $123,000 final on Friday, April 16.
(The Meadowlands)
What a great picture of two
What a great picture of two great trotters - not the last we'll hear of them pair this year, no doubt!