Meadowlands: Graduate Series prelims for four-year-old male pacers conclude

In the first of two divisions of the fourth and final leg of the Graduate Series for 4-year-olds on the pace on Friday night at the Meadowlands, Always A Prince went first-over for most of the final half-mile, grabbed the lead at the head of the stretch, and held off the late-rallying 4-5 favorite Jimmy Freight – who was raging along the inside – by a head in 1:47 3/5. American History, who was towed into contention by the eventual winner, settled for third.

Always A Prince, who returned $9.40 as the second choice in the wagering, is a son of Always A Virgin-Glorious Princess who was driven by Dave Miller. The Tyler George trainee now has 21 wins from just 29 lifetime starts and has banked almost $550,000.

“Not at all,” said Miller if he was surprised at how good his horse was. “I knew what he was capable of. He raced great and went a big mile.”

The Downtown Bus sat a three-hole trip to score in the other Graduate division in 1:48. Shadow Cat cut out sizzling fractions of 25 4/5, 54 1/5, and 1:21 3/5 but stopped in the stretch, allowing the pocket-sitting 4-5 favorite Courtly Choice the opportunity to go on to what appeared to be an easy win, but Tim Tetrick put The Downtown Bus right behind Courtly Choice as that one vacated the pocket on the far turn, then ducked to the inside with an eighth of a mile to go before using some explosive pace on the way to an easy 2 1/2 length score. Rock Lights was third.

A son of Mach Three-Slimsplace, The Downtown Bus is trained by Jeff Gillis and paid $8.00 as the second choice in the betting. He now has 15 lifetime wins from 46 starts and earnings of $414,505.

“On the middle of the last turn my horse felt great,” said Tetrick. “’The Bus’ is just a cool little horse.”

--press release (the Meadowlands)--