Emerging from the winter and the snow each year at the Meadowlands Racetrack is a three-year-old pacer that captures the imagination and brings a wonder of what could be on the horizon.
This year, there are two, Wiggle It JiggleIt and National Seelster.
While it may not be the final of the Buddy Gilmour just yet, all eyes will be on the early season clash between this pair of unbeaten sophomore pacers. While the two enter the contest with unblemished records (Wiggle It JiggleIt a perfect four-for-four and National Seelster three-for-three), their style of winning has been rather different.
Wiggle It Jiggleit started his career with a six-length romp in 1:51.2 at Pocono in his only start as a two-year-old. His connections gave their horse time to develop and brought him back in January where he dominated a ‘non-winners of two’ field at Dover Downs by over a dozen lengths.
Six days later, National Seelster made his lifetime debut, rallying from well off the pace, showing professionalism in his first lifetime start, winning by a length. The colt followed that win up with a pocket-sitting, last-second surge to narrowly win by a neck. Both wins coming in non-winners of two company at the Meadowlands.
Both undefeated, but National Seelster had been tested. Wiggle It JiggleIt had not. His connections thought enough of him to enter him in the Sonsam series against older horses where he won, powering up first over in an eye-opening 1:49.4 performance. The winner’s circle reaction appeared more like a mid-summer stakes race, as the connections new they had something special.
Wiggle It JiggleIt’s regular driver, Montrell Teague is excited about his potential and noted in a Meadowlands interview that all eyes are on the future. “We’ll race him in the Gilmour series and then shut him down until May,” said Teague. “He’s staked well so we’ll look to some races in New Jersey and focus on the Meadowlands Pace and a couple of other big ones.”
National Seelster has also been paid into the Meadowlands Pace.
Both three-year-olds headed into their respective starts in the first round of the Buddy Gilmour as prohibitive favourites and neither disappointed. With Wiggle It JiggleIt dominating from start to finish to win in 1:51.2, and National Seelster making a move around the far turn and wearing down his opposition to win in 1:52 flat. Due to the brilliance and dominance that Wiggle It Jiggleit has displayed, he has been installed as the 3-5 morning line favourite for the matchup, with National Seelster an 8-5 second choice. The two will meet in the second race on Saturday night, the first of two Buddy Gilmour divisions. The second division will head postward for Race 11 on the 13-dash program.
On the wagering front, the card features three guaranteed pools: the 50-cent Pick 5 in Race 1, a pool that has averaged over $50,000 each night; the 50-cent early Pick 4 in Race 3, also averaging over $50,000 per night; and the 50-cent late Pick 4 in Race 7, which has featured an average pool of over $75,000. As usual, there will be a pair of 20-cent Jackpot Super Hi-5 wagers, with a low eight per cent takeout in Races 5 and 13. Going into the Friday program, the fifth race carryover was $41,316 and the 13th race carryover stood at $148,526.
Post time for the Meadowlands’ Saturday program is 7:15 p.m.
(Meadowlands)