Teague seeing double with Lather Up juveniles

It should come as little surprise to the harness racing world that the progeny of Lather Up have hit the ground running.

After all, the world champion broke two world records and became the fastest four-year-old horse in history, the (former) equal fastest horse over a mile, the fastest horse over a mile, and one-eighth during his career on the track.

The homebred son of Im Gorgeous has been the most impressive of the fourteen freshman pacing sires to date, with the number of starters, qualifying winners, and times his progeny are running all pointing towards a very bright future.

Lather Up has had a whopping 40% (33) of his 82 registered two-year-olds appear in public early in the North American juvenile season, with eight individual qualifying winners.

Three of his daughters added their names to the list today, with extensive two-year-old qualifying heats being run at Harrah’s Philadelphia, where four of the nine juvenile pacing heats were won by the progeny of Lather Up.

The man who sat in the bike throughout the career of the former world champion was on hand to reign all four home, and Montrell Teague was only too happy to talk about the prospects of a sire that is so dear to the hearts of he and his family.

“It’s pretty exciting, I got to drive one of the best horses ever to race, and then he has his offspring, and I get to sit behind a number of them also,” said Teague.

“It’s been pretty exciting so far. They seem like different animals than what we are used to in the stable at home, in a good way, I might add,” he said.

When asked whether he saw any commonalities between the sire and his offspring, Teague added:

“I’m seeing a lot. A quick turn of speed for one. All of them are very smart, and they don’t get hot or want to run away with you. They are very easygoing horses, just like he was. He was a straightforward horse to drive. And they are quick leaving and quick coming home like he was too, so they are getting a lot of his traits,” he said.

The first of this morning’s winning quartet for Lather Up was the fastest of the five filly qualifiers (and equal fastest of the day) in the Clyde Francis-trained Kamala.

The race seven winner was having her second look at the track after running a solid second, placing the first time off the property a week earlier. This morning Kamala went wire to wire with Teague in the bike and had her rivals gasping for air at the finish, stopping the clock in 1:56.3 for the mile.

KAMALA REPLAY

“She happens to be one of the best fillies we trained down this year,” said Teague.

“Last week, she got on the right line, and we just had a murphy on the inside. Today we put on a head pole and a murphy with a control bar, and she was ten times better. I was very impressed with her.

“Being able to cut the mile, too, is even better. Usually, the babies are better coming off of cover, but it was pretty impressive to cut the mile out on her own terms like that,” he said.

Kamala is bred and raced by Teague’s father, George Teague Jr. She is out of the Mr Wiggles mare, Mozzi Minaj, a lightly tried race mare who achieved three minor placings from five lifetime starts.

A little over 15 minutes later, Teague was back in front and dictating terms with another Clyde Francis-trained Lather Up filly by the name of Itsonlyupfromhere.

The pair showed a nice turn of foot in the stretch to pick up the leader on the line, rattling home in a 27.4 last quarter in just her second public appearance of the year.

ITSONLYUPFROMHERE REPLAY

“She was in a similar boat. Last week was always just a learning curve, going from behind the gate etc. I got in the two-hole last week and just taught her a little bit. This week, nobody left from off the gate, so I figured I would lead again.

“She got cover soon after and settled well in the pocket, came a good last quarter, and was really good as well,” he said.

Itsonlyupfromhere stopped the clock in a tidy 1:57.2 for the mile. She is out of the unraced Dragon Again mare, Enniskerry. From seven foals of racing age, Ennikserry is the dam of four winners, including the 28-race winner, Dashiki.

Last but not least of the Lather Up fillies was the eye-catching run of The Future Is Here in race nine. Teague had her quickly out of the gate in her first public outing, going wire to wire in a speedy 1:57.1 for the mile.

THE FUTURE IS HERE REPLAY

“This was her first time behind the gate, and I was very impressed with her,” said Teague.

“I had the cut the whole mile, and I love it when you come round the last turn, pop the plugs, and have another gear like they are supposed to. Just like Lather Up himself did. I was very impressed with her as well,” he said.

The Future Is Here is out of the 1:50.3 Artiscape stakes-winning mare, Future Destiny. She was the winner of the discontinued Miss New Jersey and Tender Loving Care features for three-year-old fillies and looks to have produced a smart one with this Lather Up filly for Teague Jr and Francis.

Later in the morning, the Brenda Teague-trained Hundred Dollar Man was making his second appearance after his excellent qualifying debut a week earlier, where he stopped the clock in 1:55 flat.

The Lather Up gelding is to date the seventh equal fastest juvenile pacer of the year in North America, and he carried on his winning ways with another convincing performance.

HUNDRED DOLLAR MAN REPLAY

“He’s been the most impressive from training down to qualifying and just his all-around game,” said Teague.

“He definitely has the Lather Up ability, athleticism and smarts. Everything you could think of with Lather Up, he seems to be showing the same so far. He still has to go behind the gate and race against seven other horses, but so far, so good. He has been the most impressive and my favourite so far.

“Last week, I just cut the mile out, and Dad wanted to go about 55 or 56 and see if we had a horse for the Next Generation Series on July 1st. It would be a $10,000 buy-in, so we wanted to make sure of what we had. This week I wanted to see if he could do it both ways, so let him find his feet and race from the back, and he was just as impressive,” he said.

The Brenda Teague bred, owned and trained gelding is out of the 16 race-winning Artiscape mare, Whirl The Girl, who, in limited opportunities at stud, has produced the 1:50.2 pacer, Anneke (Southwind Lynx), the winner of 16 as well as 55 placings for $316,954 in purses.

While Lather Up was a very good two-year-old, winning four of his first seven starts including a 1:51.1 track record at Scioto Downs, he certainly furnished into a monster as his racing career went on.

Given the large number of individual runners at the qualifiers to date, the question was posed to Teague whether he was surprised to see such precocity from the first crop of Lather Up juveniles.

“Not at all. I was hoping he got quality mares to breed with so he could show his full potential alongside Brenda and Dad’s support by sending their own mares to him, also.

“We definitely backed him as much as we could, and he has had the quality he deserves. How good they are going to be, I guess we will find out soon. But if something hits, hopefully, that will generate even stronger support, and he has a chance to be a super sire like I think he is capable of being,” he said.

For complete qualifier results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink