One More Laugh set a course record while rolling to a wire-to-wire win in the $300,000 Cane Pace at Freehold Raceway on Monday, beating Rockin Image by 4 1/4 lengths.
Driven by Tim Tetrick and trained by Ray Schnittker, the gelding started from the rail and covered the mile in 1:50.3 to win the opening leg of pacing's Triple Crown for 3-year-olds.
That time bested the mark of 1:50.4 shared by two previous Cane Pace winners - Art Official (2008) and Vintage Master (2009) - and I'm Gorgeous, who equaled it in last week's Cane Pace elimination race.
It was the second big win of the year in New Jersey for One More Laugh, who also won the $1 million Meadowlands Pace at the Meadowlands.
The Little Brown Jug on Sept. 23 and the Messenger Stakes on Nov. 6 are the other two races in pacing's Triple Crown.
''I thought I had the best horse and I had the rail, which is a great starting spot on a half-mile track,'' Tetrick said. ''I just used it to my advantage. I got to go a little easy middle half and in the middle of the last turn I called on my horse and he really responded.''
It was the fifth win in 11 starts this year for One More Laugh, who has now earned more than $1 million in 2010. He returned $3.40, $2.10 and $2.10 to his backers.
''That was probably as good as he has raced all year,'' said Schnittker, who had never won a pacing triple crown race before. He co-owns the horse with Mathias Meinzinger and Jerry Silva.
