Wiggle It Jiggleit captured the 39th edition of the $706,000 Crawford Farms Meadowlands Pace on Saturday, July 18 at Meadowlands Racetrack.
Sent postward as the 2-5 favourite, Wiggle It Jiggleit cleared to command past the :26.1 first quarter and kept his rivals at bay through middle splits of :54.2 and 1:21.3 en route to the 1:47.4 triumph by one and three-quarter lengths. Dudes The Man closed off the cover of first over challenger Wakizashi Hanover and edged him out for the runner-up honours.
At age 24, Montrell Teague became the youngest driver to win the Meadowlands' signature race with the Mr Wiggles-Mozzi Hanover gelding, who is owned by his father George Teague Jr. and trained by Clyde Francis.
"I couldn't be happier. This is pretty exciting for me!" said the elder Teague, who celebrated his second Meadowlands Pace victory. He also trained 2007 winner Southwind Lynx, who was driven by a then-25-year-old Tim Tetrick.
Teague said that celebrating the win with his son is a dream come true.
"I couldn't be prouder of my son Montrell," he said. "He speaks for himself. He's doing a great job with the horse as much as the horse is doing for him.
"It's what everybody dreams of in this business. And I own him too so it ain't so bad a deal."
Once Wiggle It Jiggleit cleared early leaver In The Arsenal, both father and son were confident in their superstar pacer, who has won 15 of his 16 races.
"I got stung to the quarter, but I thought we were going :25," said Montrell. "When I saw :26, I kind of felt pretty confident and then I backed it down as much as I could and kept on backing it down."
The Teagues remained cool and collected as they watched Wiggle It Jiggleit dig in when challenged by North America Cup champion Wakizashi Hanover, the only horse to defeat Wiggle It Jiggleit.
"Every week I look forward to driving him and he keeps me tuned into how good he is," said Montrell.
"He's the best horse I've ever driven," added the young reinsman. "I'm driving for dad and to have all my family here, it's unbelievable."
Wiggle It Jiggleit paid $2.80, $2.20 and $2.10.
The complete order of finish was: Wiggle It Jiggleit (Montrell Teague), Dudes The Man (Corey Callahan), Wakizashi Hanover (Tim Tetrick), Dealt A Winner (David Miller), Revenge Shark (Brett Miller), Artspeak (Scott Zeron), Rock N Roll World (Matt Kakaley), In The Arsenal (Brian Sears), Lyons Levis Lewis (Yannick Gingras), and Badiou Hanover (Andy Miller).
Total handle for Meadowlands Pace Night was $4,247,602.
For coverage of the stakes-packed undercard, click here.
Best three year old in North
Best three year old in North America by far. The Teagues have to be commended on the job all of them have done keeping this colt sharp and ready every week. Most can't put back to back great efforts.....this colt now has 16 of them.