They all had a clear shot at him, but none of the nine other pacers in the $706,000 Meadowlands Pace could get past Wiggle It Jiggleit, as his 24 year old harness racing driver Montrell Teague gave a fist pump and won by 1¾ lengths in 1:47.4 on Saturday night at The Meadowlands.
Wiggle It Jiggleit is trained by Montrell's father, George and trained by Clyde Francis. Montrell is the youngest driver ever to win the classic race.
The son of Mr. Wiggles started his career at The Meadowlands in the dead of the winter of 2015, racing in series and taking each in stride with progressively stronger performances. His solde loss was a second place finish to Wakizashi Hanover in the North America Cup, where he was second.
The younger Teague wasted no time looking for the lead as he put his horse on top just past the :26 quarter mile mark. Wakizashi Hanover (Tim Tetrick), wearing four new aluminum shoes, was right out to challenge down the backstretch, with In The Arsenal (Brian Sears) tucked in along the rail. From the five eighths on, it was Wiggle It Jiggleit facing off on the inside with a persistent Wakizashi Hanover on his outside. Wakizashi Hanover kept at his wheel all the way down the stretch, only losing contact with about an eighth to go. Dude's The Man ( Corey Callahan) ranged up on the outside to get past Wakizashi for the second money in the final strides while Montrell Teague had Wiggle It Jiggleit on cruise control to the wire.
"Couldn't be happier," said George Teague, who also trained and co-owned Wiggle It Jiggleit's sire, Mr. Wiggles. "This is pretty exciting, for me, anyway. I liked the way he got to the front. Once he cleared I felt pretty confident, really. I couldn't be prouder of my son, Montrell. He speaks for himself. He's doing a great job for the horse, as much as the horse is doing for him. This is what everyone dreams of in this business and I own him, too, it's not a bad deal."
"I got stung to the quarter (in :26) but I thought we were going :25," said Montrell Teague. "I would have thought we were going :25 or :26, but I backed it down as much as I could and kept on backing it down. I knew he (Wakzashi Hanover and Tim Tetrick) was going to come very, very early. I thought I was still confident at the three quarters. We only went in :21 or something like that. I didn't even look at the teletimer when I passed it and it was :47.4. Every week I look forward to driving him and he keeps me tuned in to how good he is."
Asked if he might be supplemented to the Cane Pace ( at The Meadowlands on August 8, Hambletonian day), Teague deferred to his father. "That's up to dad, he does all that work. Where ever he's goes, I'm going. He's the best horse I've ever driven. To drive for dad and have all my family here, it's unbelievable. When you look at a horse like that, going 48 and 49 every week, you've got to respect him."
Ellen Harvey