Custard The Dragon, Big Jim take Meadowlands Pace elims
East Rutherford, NJ--Hoosier Cup winner Custard The Dragon and New Jersey Classic winner Big Jim won their respective $50,000 eliminations for the $1 million Meadowlands Pace Saturday night (July 9) at Meadowlands Racetrack.
As elimination winners, their connections will have their pick of post positions when they are drawn on Tuesday. The top five from each elimination race contested on Saturday night at the Meadowlands advanced to the Meadowlands Pace Final, the track’s signature event for 3-year-old pacers.
In the first elimination, the fifth race, Custard The Dragon retook the lead from his stablemate Wink N Atcha on the backstretch and repelled a late challenge from Foreclosure N to pick up his fourth win in nine starts this year in 1:50.2.
Montrell Teague, the 20-year-old who handles Custard The Dragon, will become the youngest driver in a Meadowlands Pace final. The colt is trained by Teague's father, George Teague Jr., who won the 2007 Meadowlands Pace with Southwind Lynx.
“He has been a good colt all year long,” said George Teague, who will be represented by three starters in his sixth consecutive Meadowlands Pace.
“He’s two-finger, perfect to drive,” noted Montrell Teague. “He just wants to win.”
Custard The Dragon [$24.20, $9.20, $11.80] was a one-length winner over Foreclosure N [$4.80, $3.80], driven by Tim Tetrick, who edged out Wink N Atcha, with Yannick Gingras in the sulky, in third.
Also advancing to the final will be Roll With Joe, who was fourth, and Bestofthebest Hanover in fifth.
Custard The Dragon, a 3-year-old son of Dragon Again-Eternal Justice, has seven wins, one second and two thirds from 13 career starts, earning $551,667 for the ownership of Ted Gewertz of New York, N.Y.; Robert Feldman of Palm Beach, Fla.; Fannin Racing LLC of Lincoln, Del., and George Teague Jr. Inc of Harrington, Del.
Big Jim, with Phillip Hudon driving, moved to the lead after an opening quarter in 27.1 and never relinquished the front, taking the second division, the sixth race, in 1:50.
The Two-Year-Old Pacing Colt of the Year in 2010, Big Jim is trained by James “Friday” Dean and owned Jim Carr of Hamilton, Ont.
“He was awesome,” said Hudon, who will be making his Meadowlands Pace debut. “He paced right to the wire. It’s going to be an interesting final.”
Big Jim [$5.20, $3.00, $2.60] finished three-quarters of a length ahead of Powerful Mist [$3.40, $2.10] with Andy Miller driving, and it was two lengths to Betterthancheddar [$4.00] in third with driver David Miller.
Also advancing Feel Like A Fool, the third member of the Teague Stable to qualify for the final, and Westwardho Hanover, who was fifth.
Big Jim, a son of Western Ideal-Bold Pink, recorded his third win of the year and has finished on the board in all six 2011 starts. He has been in the top three in 15 of 16 career starts for a bankroll of $1,279,924.