Meadowlands: Gentleman's Club conquers rivals in Governor's Cup

Regally-bred Gentleman's Club persisted on the point and outlasted his rivals in a weary stretch sprint to take the $334,000 Grade 1 Governor's Cup for 2-year-old male pacers in a 1:50 2/5 effort on Saturday night at the Meadowlands.

Driver Andrew McCarthy sent Gentleman's Club forward and led briefly as Ubrute barreled to the fore out of post 10. Ubrute crossed to the lead nearing a 26 3/5 first quarter, but McCarthy promptly circled Gentleman's Club back to the top early in the backstretch. Fragment, the 2-5 favorite, raced third and was flushed first-up heading into a 54 4/5 half but stalled when pressing Gentleman's Club through the far turn.

Fragment folded past three-quarters in 1:22 as Gentleman's Club straightened and set down for the finish. Ubrute swung out of the pocket to take a late shot while stablemate Melillo zipped through a seam at the pylons with a fierce lunge. Gentleman's Club withstood the push from his flanks and paced sturdily to the line for a neck win over Melillo while Ubrute settled for third. Talbot Andretti rallied from off the speed for fourth.

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"I was pretty excited to get back on this horse on a big track - I gave him a rattle there last week and he raced huge, so I was quite confident going into tonight," Andrew McCarthy said. "I just knew Aaron [Lambert] had this horse ready. He did a fine job getting him to finish the year off like this."

A colt by Downbytheseaside out of champion mare See You At Peelers, Gentleman's Club bagged his fifth win from 10 starts and has now amassed $239,756 for owner Tony Licastro. The Aaron Lambert trainee returned $28.60 to win.