Lis Mara was an impressive 1:47.4 winner in the first of two $50,000 William Haughton Memorial Pace eliminations at the Meadowlands Saturday night, while Artistic Fella scored a 1:49.2 decision in the second.
Brian Sears worked Lis Mara into second-over position around the final turn and the 5-year-old son of Cambest responded with a flourish, rushing past his peers with an individual last quarter of :26.2 and drawing clear to a 2 1/4-length win over Mister Big (John Campbell). Tigerama, Boulder Creek and Holborn Hanover will also return for next Saturday's $650,000 final.
The win stretched Lis Mara's unbeaten streak at the Meaowlands to seven and the sixth sub-1:48 mile in Big M history. Assistant trainer Tony Alagna and co-owner Mike Gulotta both said a bout of allergies struck Lis Mara while at Canada the past couple weeks as he finished fourth and second in the last Classic leg and final, respectively, which brought to an end his four-race win streak in 2007.
"He put in a fine performance tonight," said Sears in the winner's circle. "He was definitely back on his game tonight. He never got used until the top of the lane so he had a lot of pop."
Voted thee 2006 Older Pacer of the Year, Lis Mara is trained by Erv Miller for Gulotta's MJG Racing Stables and Andy Willinger. Despite those last two losses, Lis Mara has been able to hold onto his spot as the top-ranked Standardbred. Included among his four prior victories was a 1:49 score over a "sloppy" track in the $285,000 Graduate final in mid May.
Artistic Fella, racing on Lasix for the first time, "got a little lazy" nearing the wire, according to driver Cat Manzi, but he had enough left to hold off JK Cu Later (John Campbell) to post his fourth win of the year. Total Truth, who beat out Artistic Fella in voting for last year's top 3-year-old pacing colt, finished third. Mypanmar and Took Hanover will also return for the final.
Last year's Meadowlands Pace winner, Artistic Fella is a 4-year-old son of Pacific Fella owned by Joe Alborano.
The connections of Lis Mara and Artistic Fella will get to choose their posts for next Saturday's rich final while the others will draw for their starting slots.
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