Meadowlands: Real Cool Sam real impressive in Peter Haughton Memorial triumph

Real Cool Sam improved his record to five wins from five starts, capitalizing on a second-over trip to score in the $324,500 Peter Haughton Memorial for 2-year-old male trotters on Saturday afternoon at the Meadowlands. The final time was 1:53 1/5, equaling the North American record for a rookie gelding trotter on a mile track.

There was an early skirmish for the lead, with Back Of The Neck (Mattias Melander) pushing three-wide around Rome Pays Off (Orjan Kihlstrom) and Synergy (Yannick Gingras) to grab the front passing the 27 3/5 opening quarter. Synergy, who was left two-wide, would press on to the front in the second quarter, and he would go on to reach the half in 56 2/5. Expectations (Brian Sears) was out and moving first-over from fourth at that point, with Real Cool Sam (David Miller) grabbing the cover to sit second-over.

Expectations moved up steadily on the rim and was threatening Synergy at the 1:25 2/5 three-quarters, and they continued to duel into the lane. However, it was at that point that Miller cut Real Cool Sam loose to their outside, and he had the best kick after being fed the clear air, pulling away to win by 2 1/4 lengths. Rome Pays Off got up for second, with Expectations holding third. Capricornus (Tim Tetrick) was fourth, and Synergy faded to fifth.

The 1:53 1/5 clocking matched the previous North American record set by Outburst at The Red Mile back in 2013.

"It actually worked out really good," remarked the winning driver. "I was able to get away in a good spot, and I was all prepared to come first-over, but I ended up picking up cover. He raced really, really well. He was strong right to the wire.

"He's pretty professional already. He kind of came that way. He's been amazing, and I like him a lot. I said he's a real professional, Jim (trainer Jim Campbell). He knows what he's doing. He knows what he's out here for."

A Muscle Hill gelding, Real Cool Sam is a homebred for Jules Siegel's Fashion Farms LLC. He has earned $216,997 to go with his unblemished mark, and he paid $3.00 to win as the 1-2 favorite. Real Cool Sam's dam is the Broadway Hall mare Cooler Schooner (1:51 3/5, $154,984), who is also a world champion by virtue of that mark that she took at Pocono.

"I named him after Sam McKee, who was a real good friend of mine," Siegel said. "He used to come down to the apron and watch me walking around, as nervous as I was."