Yonkers: Wiggle It Jiggleit leads all the way in Invitational Pace

Wiggle It Jiggleit was airborne at the start, and that was all it took for the defending Horse of the Year to get the lead and dominate in the $250,000 Inviational at Yonkers Raceway on Saturday afternoon.

Montrell Teague was able to start from post seven with the early defection of Split The House and had Wiggle It Jiggleit’s nose right on the starting gate as the wings opened. Wiggle It Jiggleit scored in 1:50 2/5 with Bit Of A Legend N stalking him in second and Mel Mara earning the third spot after an inside journey. Wiggle It Jiggleit set easy fractions of 27 3/5, 55 4/5, and 1:23 1/5 before sprinting home in hand with a :27 1/5 final quarter.

Recent Rene Allard acquisition Keystone Velocity had taken considerable money on the tote board but did not leave the gate and instead made a futile first-over bid that netted his connections little. The hard-hitting All Bets Off was mired behind that cover and put in a brave effort to finish fourth, narrowly defeated by Mel Mara as those two dueled to the wire.

Trained by Clyde Francis, Wiggle It Jiggleit returned $2.80 as the 2-5 betting favorite. It was career victory number 38 in Wiggle It Jiggleit’s 50-race career for owners George Teague Jr. and Teague Racing Partnership LLC. The win boosted the career bankroll over $3.8 million.

“I had him up on the bit as much as I could,” said Montrell Teague following the race, adding he was somewhat surprised by the lack of early activity in the quarter-million dollar affair.