Caviart Ally, Always A Prince and The Downtown Bus all established lifetime bests while Always A Prince went one step further, going a Meadowlands’ season’s-fastest 1:47.3 Friday night at the Big M.
One week ago, Caviart Ally equalled her lifetime-best of 1:48.3 in the final leg of the Rainbow Blue Series for mare pacers and was even faster Friday, stopping the clock in 1:48 in the series' final. The five-year-old daughter of Bettors Delight-Allamerican Cool stayed perfect in four Meadowlands starts this year by clearing to the lead before the half, hitting three-quarters in 1:22.2, then exploding home in :25.3 to seal the deal for driver Andy McCarthy. Apple Bottom Jeans completed the $4.20 Exacta, finishing two lengths behind the winner. Bettors Up was third.
The Brett Pelling-trained Caviart Ally returned $2.40 to win, and now has 20 victories in 61 starts, good for earnings of just a hair under $1.3 million.
“She was great tonight,” said McCarthy. “I think Brett has got her spot-on at the moment. She was very straight and focused on her job. I’m extremely happy and excited going forward.”
In the first of two divisions of the fourth and final leg of the Graduate Series for four-year-olds on the pace, Always A Prince went first-over for most of the final half-mile, grabbed the lead at the head of the stretch and held off the late-rallying 4-5 favourite Jimmy Freight -- who was raging along the inside -- by a head. American History, who was towed into contention by the eventual winner, settled for third.
Always A Prince, who returned $9.40 as the second choice in the wagering, is a son of Always A Virgin-Glorious Princess who was driven by Dave Miller. The Tyler George trainee now has 21 wins from just 29 lifetime starts and has banked almost $550,000.
“Not at all,” said Miller if he was surprised at how good his horse was. “I knew what he was capable of. He raced great and went a big mile.”
The Downtown Bus sat a three-hole trip to score in the other Graduate division in 1:48. Shadow Cat cut out sizzling fractions of :25.4, :54.1 and 1:21.3 but stopped in the stretch, allowing the pocket-sitting 4-5 favourite Courtly Choice the opportunity to go on to what appeared to be an easy win, but Tim Tetrick put The Downtown Bus right behind Courtly Choice as that one vacated the pocket on the far turn, then ducked to the inside with an eighth of a mile to go before using some explosive pace on the way to an easy 2-1/2 length score. Rock Lights was third.
A son of Mach Three-Slimsplace, The Downtown Bus is trained by Jeffrey Gillis and paid $8.00 as the second choice in the betting. He now has 15 lifetime wins from 46 starts and earnings of $414,505.
“On the middle of the last turn my horse felt great,” said Tetrick. “’The Bus’ is just a cool little horse.”
After The Downtown Bus hit the wire, the Meadowlands became the first track in the sport this year to have three miles of 1:48 or faster on a single race card.
The Graduate Finals for both trotters and pacers are on July 6.
Chalk players had a big night, as eight faves scored on the 14-race program. The fifth race 20-Cent Jackpot Super High-Five failed to result in a single-ticket winner, upping the carryover to $117,559. Racing resumes Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
(Meadowlands)