Meadowlands: Lather Up joins Always B Miki as fastest horse in harness racing history

On a sensational night of speed at the Meadowlands, Lather Up saved up one big mile for himself, joining Always B Miki on top of the mountain in the history of the sport with a 1:46 sizzler in the $250,000 Graduate final for 4-year-old male pacers.

Starting from post three in the race, Lather Up and driver Montrell Teague found the pocket behind Always A Prince (Brian Sears) and let him do the heavy lifting, ripping through amazing fractions of 25 3/5, 52, and 1:19 1/5, with Lather Up edging out two-wide approaching that three-quarter clocking.

In the lane Always A Prince tried to keep going, but he had nothing left to give, as Lather Up swept by, and a 26 3/5 final quarter got last year's North America Cup champion to the line 2 1/4 lengths to the good over This Is The Plan (Yannick Gingras) in the record-equaling mile. Backstreet Shadow (Tim Tetrick) kicked home in 25 4/5 to go from eighth to third, with Always A Prince backing up to fourth. Done Well (Dexter Dunn) collected fifth.

In addition to tying the world record for the quickest mile in harness racing history, the 1:46 clocking is also the swiftest ever at the Meadowlands, topping 1:46 4/5 performances by He's Watching, Warrawee Needy, and Holborn Hanover.

"I knew we were going to go a decent mile. I was thinking 47, not 46," said the winning driver. "Right when I popped out, my horse just sprinted off like we were just starting out of the gate again. I knew that we were in a very, very good position. He throws in a couple bad races here and there, but we just showed how good he really is tonight."

Clyde Francis trains Lather Up, a 4-year-old horse by I'm Gorgeous, for owners/breeders Gary and Barbara Iles. Lather Up made his 20th appearance in the winner's circle, and he now shows earnings of $1,182,322. Sent off at 6-1, he paid $14.00 to win.

"He's always had the ability to go like that, but you never know what he's going to do," remarked Francis, who said Lather Up will be right back at the Meadowlands in next week's Haughton Memorial. "It's a great feeling, but coming in here you never know how a race is going to play out. You figured where he got away, he was in a good spot with that horse on the front cutting it. When Montrell tipped him to the outside, and he was getting around that turn smooth, I knew he had a good shot. I figured they'd go in 1:47, never had any idea they'd go in 1:46. That's amazing."

Gary Iles was thrilled with Lather Up's victory, even as he relayed the story about how Lather Up's dam Pocket Comb getting bred to I'm Gorgeous was unintentional.

"We were really looking for semen from another horse, and the girl who orders the semen made the mistake," he recalled. "I said to her 'go ahead and breed anyhow' because I always wanted to breed to a Bettor's Delight. The rest is history. How lucky can you get sometimes?

"George (Teague) has always told me this horse is capable of a 1:46 mile. He's been telling me that for the last two years. We've had some bad go's, but he said he really is that good. Of course, now we know he is. I saw the fractions coming up, and I knew he has that one heck of a kick coming home. When Montrell pulled him, I was confident that we were going to be very, very close to a win."