from Meadowlands Media Relations

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – May 8, 2004 – After a spirited exchange of leads, even-money favorite Brandon’s Cowboy [$4.20, $2.60, $2.40] carried the field into the homestretch and withheld the challenge of Four Starzzz King [$3.20, $3.00] for a nose victory in the $260,000 Berry’s Creek Final on Saturday night at the Meadowlands.

Spirit Of A Shark [$4.60] was third by a half-length in the charge to the wire in the sixth race feature.

Brandon’s Cowboy, driven by Daniel Dube and trained by Mark Ford, paced the mile in 1:51 for his fifth consecutive victory. The colt also swept the Suslow Series.

Martin Scharf of Lawrence, New York, purchased the colt for $200,000 prior to his third-place finish in last year’s Breeders Crown for two-year-olds. From the first crop of 1999 Meadowlands Pace winner The Panderosa, Brandon’s Cowboy has earned back $268,800 for Scharf toward a career total of $295,087.

“The other horse [Four Starzzz King] was coming fast at the end,” Dube noted. “We hit the wire at the right time.”

Scharf, Ford and Dube are also the team behind 2000 Horse of the Year Gallo Blue Chip, who won the Meadowlands Pace that year. Brandon’s Cowboy is eligible to the $1 million Meadowlands Pace on July 17.

“We’ll have to sit down and think things over,” said Ford, who is considering stakes at the end of the month at either Hoosier Park or Windsor Raceway.

Ford acknowledged that many of the top three-year-olds have yet to race this year.

“There’s a lot more out there,” Ford said. “We might be a couple of weeks ahead of them. He was the best tonight, but there’s a lot more out there. He’s paid for now.”

Runner-up Four Starzzz King, winner of the Junior Trendsetter and Matt’s Scooter Series, had his winning streak snapped at two.

“He got as bad of a trip as he could have,” said Dave Sabatelli, the trainer of Four Starzzz King. “Mike [driver Mike Lachance] did the best he could. I’m not convinced that I wasn’t the best horse in the race tonight. I thought I needed just another step, and he could have been a winner. He has the Provincial Cup next. He won’t be back here until a three-year-old open and then the Oliver Wendell Holmes [on August 7].”

“My colt raced really well,” said Lachance. “I can’t fault him at all. It was just bad luck.”

In the eighth race, the $50,000 free for all pace for entrants in next Saturday’s $285,000 Graduate Final, Life Source [$22.60, $4.60, $2.80] scored by a neck over 3-5 favorite Four Starzzz Shark [$2.80, $2.20] in 1:49.2. Escape the Wind [$2.40] was third by a length and a quarter after cutting the early fractions.

“The trip [in the two hole] was key,” said winning driver Cat Manzi. “He’s a classy old horse. Any time you can work out a trip like that and give him the opportunity to shake loose, he has the possibility of winning, even against this competition.”

The victory pushed Life Source’s earnings over the $1 million mark for Richard T. Banca of Vernon, New Jersey. The seven-year-old Life Sign gelding is trained by Richard J. Banca.