Meadowlands: Lather Up, Courtly Choice draw first blood in Graduate Series

Lather Up, one of last year's premier sophomore pacers, returned to the racing wars on Saturday night and put in an outstanding effort in capturing the first of two $50,000 divisions of the Graduate at the Meadowlands.

With Montrell Teague in the bike, Lather Up left briskly from post seven in the mile and an eighth contest and had control before the 25 3/5 opening quarter. This Is The Plan and Tim Tetrick were parked from the start waiting for the dust to settle and then advanced to clear the front before the 53 2/5 opening half. With little time to relax, This Is The Plan was overpowered by last year's sophomore champion Dorsoduro Hanover, as the action continued with the outer flow now finding The Downtown Bus in a first-over position, followed by Lyons Steel.

Once into the homestretch The Downtown Bus was able to wear down the pace-setter and led past the mile marker in 1:49 2/5, but Teague had spent much of the early stretch angling off the pylons. By the late stretch Teague had found a clear lane for Lather Up to utilize, and the son of I'm Gorgeous did exactly that, blasting by Lyons Steel in the shadow of the wire to score convincingly in 2:02 4/5 for the added distance. The Downtown Bus was a game third.

Clyde Francis trains Lather Up for owners-breeders Gary and Barbara Iles. Sent off as a 5-2 offering in the field of 12, Lather Up returned $13.20 to win and edged closer to the $1 million mark in career earnings, falling less than $8,000 short.

Courtly Choice, the 2018 Meadowlands Pace winner, returned to East Rutherford with his "A" game for driver David Miller to capture the second $50,000 Graduate division by going overland.

Miller settled in early with Courtly Choice as Always A Prince seized the early lead only to be overtaken by Done Well before the 26 1/5 opening quarter. Dexter Dunn had Done Well under rating through a 54 1/5 opening half mile while Miller was flushed out past that call with Courtly Choice. The pair made a determined grind towards the front as Done Well accelerated, posting a third quarter in 27 2/5 and then a fourth quarter in a blistering 26 2/5. The speed was not fast enough to lose Courtly Choice, though, as the son of Art Major kicked into gear late and drove by the pacemaker in a 2:01 4/5 clocking for the extra distance. Done Well settled for second, with Always A Prince third.

Blake MacIntosh trains Courtly Choice, who returned $3.60 with his 13th career victory.