Over the past two years, Highalator has impressed time and again at The Meadowlands, and on Saturday night (Sept. 5) he brought his ‘A’ game once again in defeating a talented field in the featured $18,500 high-end conditioned pace.
Unlike his off-the-pace "Big M" score on June 6 at odds of 42-1 from post 10, driver Ricky Still had the six-year-old son of Somebeachsomewhere-Higher And Higher on the go early from post 8, following 6-5 favourite Angers Bayama around the first turn. Angers Bayama—seeking his fourth straight win—led at the quarter in :26.2, but Highalator surged to the top shortly thereafter, securing the lead at the three-eighths before rating to the half in :54.4.
Donttellmeagain was on the move as Tim Tetrick asked that one for pace, and the pair made up ground racing on the rim up the backside and around the far turn, and were just off the leader’s flank at the head of the stretch. But just as he did while sweeping the 2019 Golden Receiver Series at The Big M, Highalator found more.
Through the stretch Highalator had to contend with a pesky Donttellmeagain to his outside and Angers Bayama to his inside. But Highalator was up to the task, fending off that two-pronged attack to score by a safe head after pacing his final quarter in :26.4. Angers Bayama finished second with Donttellmeagain third.
The Jenny Bier trainee, who paid $11.00 to win as the third choice, stopped the clock in 1:49 and now has 36 wins from 80 starts for owners Jenny Bier, Joann Dombeck and Midsize Construction Inc. His earnings are now just shy of $600,000.
A LITTLE MORE: Hambletonian champion Ramona Hill qualified Saturday morning, winning from off the pace in 1:53.1.
The program marked the start of The Big M’s new 10-cent Pentafectas. The fifth race combination of 9-3-4-10-1 was good for a payoff of $689.34, while the 13th race paid $132.07 for a ticket bearing the combination 3-8-5-2-4. The second and third choices finished in the top two in both races. … Wagering on the 13-race program totaled $2,594,313.
Racing resumes Friday at 7:15 p.m. (EDT).
(The Meadowlands)