EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) Wiggle It Jiggleit is ideally positioned for the $706,000 Crawford Farms Meadowlands Pace this weekend.
The 4-5 favorite has the No. 4 post against nine rivals in the signature event at Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment on Saturday night.
The Pace tops a 14-race card that includes the $443,000 Hambletonian Maturity for 4-year-old trotters, the $430,600 William R. Haughton Memorial featuring Free-For-All pacers, the $213,450 Golden Girls for Free-For-All pacing mares and the $201,350 Mistletoe Shalee for 3-year-old pacing fillies.
Some of the leading trotters aiming at the $1 million Hambletonian and $500,000 Hambletonian Oaks here on Aug. 8 are racing in two divisions of the Stanley Dancer Memorial and a single dash for the fillies in the Delvin Miller Memorial.
But the night belongs to the 3-year-old pacers, a division Wiggle It Jiggleit has dominated.
The son of Mr Wiggles has won 14 of 15 races for owner George Teague Jr. The lone loss came in the North America Cup in late June at Mohawk Raceway. Wiggle It Jiggleit did the heavy lifting that night, setting the pace until the final strides when Wakizashi Hanover edged past for a 5-1 upset.
The two have met twice since with Wiggle It Jiggleit prevailing in the Hempt Final at Pocono Downs and in last week's Meadowlands Pace eliminations.
The colt showed a dazzling closing kick in a 25 2/5 second final quarter with Montrell Teague, George's son, in the sulky, winning by a length in 1:48 4/5.
George Teague is looking for his second Pace win, having taken the 2007 edition with Southwind Lynx.
In The Arsenal won the other Pace elimination in a career-best 1:49 1/5 with Brian Sears driving for trainer Kelvin Harrison.
He starts from post 6 as the 3-1 second choice. This will be Harrison's first Pace starter in 23 years.
Wakizashi Hanover, who will be driven by Tim Tetrick, drew the No. 9 post and is the 4-1 third choice.
Tetrick is a four-time Pace winner, including the last two editions with Captaintreacherous (2013) and He's Watching (2014).
Artspeak is the 6-1 fourth choice from post 3 with Scott Zeron driving. He was fourth last week to In The Arsenal as the 1-2 favorite in his Pace elimination.
The other contenders all offer double-digit odds. Dealt A Winner is 20-1 while Lyons Levi Lewis, Dude's The Man and Revenge Shark are 30-1.
Rock N' Roll World and Badiou Hanover are 50-1.
