LIFE SOURCE KEEPS ROLLING ALONG - AND INTO GRADUATE FINAL

(Best E Casino) - Life Source? All heart.

No, it's not a medical question and response. It's the origin of success for eight-year-old pacer Life Source, at least as far as trainer Rich Banca can determine. Life Source, the winner of $1.69 million lifetime, has knocked heads with the best open pacers in the sport over the much of the last four years, and just keeps coming back for more.

He will be among 10 horses going behind the gate in Saturday night's $225,000 Graduate final at the Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey. Life Source won his elimination race by 2¼ lengths over Articulator in 1:49; Holborn Hanover, who won last year's Meadowlands Pace, won the other elim by a neck over Driven To Win in 1:49.2.

"I think he's got a good chance; he's always got a chance," Banca said. "It's a pretty good field of horses, so I just hope he gets a good trip. I think that's all he will need. Holborn Hanover, Casimir Camotion, Boulder Creek, any of those horses, I think, could win. They're all good horses. Whoever gets the good trip will win."

Life Source has been something of an iron horse in recent years. He has won five of 15 races and $215,825 this year, including the Presidential final, and has averaged 30 starts per season since 2000. He has made at least one start in every month since June 2003.

"You don't really see that happen too much," Banca said. "It's amazing how good he's been for so long. He's an amazing horse, he really is. He's just tough. It's a lot of heart, a lot of guts. It's just all him, really. He just tries as hard as he can. He's all heart. He's been racing for two years straight with just a couple weeks off here and there. He takes two weeks off and it seems like two months; he's just as fresh as can be."

Last year, Life Source won a division of the U.S. Pacing Championship and earned a career-best $655,558. Other top victories include the 2002 Classic Series final. He again is competing in the Classic Series and has a full slate of stakes races on his card.

"He's not the friendliest horse to be around -- he kicks and bites -- but I don't mind putting up with him," Banca said with a laugh. "He can do whatever he wants."

SMEDSHAMMER TROTTERS SET TO BATTLE MR MUSCLEMAN IN CUTLER MEMORIAL

Trond Smedshammer wouldn't be surprised to see Mr Muscleman push around the competition in Friday night's Arthur J. Cutler Memorial final at the Meadowlands. But if there's a longshot lurking in the field to challenge the defending Older Male Trotter of the Year, it might be Smedshammer's own Sand Vic.

"He's not the highest regarded horse out there, but he has a lot of ability," said Smedshammer, who also trains Cutler finalist HP Paque. "Training him down this year, I knew I had a horse that could be a major factor; he felt like a great horse. He lacks a little bit of confidence and class, but that could change. As far as ability, he can go with them, there's no question about that."

Sand Vic, who sold for $4,200 at the February 2002 Blooded Horse Sale in Ohio, is a newcomer to the Smedshammer Stable after being purchased by August Fredrik Miedel of Pompano Beach, Florida, last December. As a two-year-old, Sand Vic won nine of 14 races, including a division of the Bluegrass, and earned $206,624. Last season, he trotted a stakes record 1:55.1 in winning a division of the Currier & Ives, but struggled the majority of the campaign. He ended the year with two victories in 15 starts and $55,887.

This year, Sand Vic made his first appearance for Smedshammer in the Classic Series at Dover Downs. He was parked the entire mile and finished last in a six-horse field. His next start came in the Open at the Meadowlands, where he was fifth. On May 13 in his Cutler elimination race, Sand Vic led from the gate to the top of the stretch before finishing second, beaten a 1¼ lengths, by Hurri Kane Billy G in 1:53.

"You can throw out his first start," Smedshammer said. "His second one, I raced him with an open bridle and he got a good trip but didn't fire. I was very disappointed. I changed him to a blind bridle for the Cutler elim and he woke up a lot. He cut a pretty fast mile that night and should be a lot better. I think he should improve off that mile."

HP Paque won $575,488 last year when his victories included the Su Mac Lad and Breeders Crown, both at the Meadowlands. His North American earnings ranked second among older trotters to Mr Muscleman ($593,323) and he was a finalist for the Dan Patch Award for older male trotter. This year, HP Paque, who has earned $1.5 million in his career, is winless in four starts but showed improvement with the addition of Lasix in his Cutler elimination race. He was third behind Mr Muscleman and Hez Striking in 1:54.2.

"He had to trot in the Su Mac Lad," Smedshammer said, referring to this year's race on April 10 in which HP Paque was 10th. "I knew something had to be wrong. We scoped him, and sure enough, he had bled. I thought he qualified back pretty good and I was happy with him the other day."

Despite his good feelings about his horses, Smedshammer doesn't know if anyone can beat Mr Muscleman. The five-year-old, and two-time Dan Patch Award winner, has won three of four starts this season and earned $1.99 million lifetime. His only loss came by a neck to Don Boss Vita in 1:52.1 in the Su Mac Lad despite racing on the outside for most of the mile.

"He's as good as he can be right now," Smedshammer said. "He looks very tough to beat; I don't think any horse can beat him right now. Right now, it looks like he's got a pretty good grip on this division. He seems a notch tougher than the rest. It's going to be tough to beat him, but we're going to have to try."

Since the first Cutler Memorial in 1998, two horses have won the race and gone on to be named Older Male Trotter of the Year: Magician in 2000 and Fool's Goal in 2002. Kadabra was the defending Trotter of the Year when he won the race in 2003, but saw his season cut short by injury after winning four of his first seven starts and $249,600.

The only veteran of a previous Cutler Memorial in this year's field is Elegant Man, who was third behind War Paint and Approved Action in last season's race. In 2003, he was seventh.

THE FAST TRACK: Windylane Hanover, the 2003 Trotting Mare of the Year, won a qualifier May 13 at the Meadowlands in 1:55, and appears ready to return to the races on June 4 in the Classic Series. "The old girl was pretty good," trainer Brett Bittle said. "I don't think I'll give her another start; I don't think she will need it. I think she can come into the season where I want her to be off what she's done. She's feeling pretty good."

Bittle said Windylane Hanover has been "living the life of Riley," spending time turned out at his farm and swimming in addition to training. He plans to be selective when picking spots for the six-year-old mare. Last season, she was either first or second in her first 10 starts, including victories in three Classic Series legs, before ending the campaign with seventh-places finishes in the Breeders Crown Open and Nat Ray.

"Last year, I had her maybe peaked too soon," Bittle said. "She was really sharp right off her qualifier and maybe tailed off at the end. We're going to try to do it a little different."

When asked if she would face the males this season, as she did in 2004, Bittle quickly responded, "Absolutely not."

"We've got to be more concerned about beating the girls," he said. "Trond's mare (Housethatruthbuilt) is going to be out there and Ryder's mare (Mystical Sunshine) looks like she's big and strong and pretty tough. We've got our work cut out for us; there are plenty of good ones around."

Silver Springs, who won the Hambletonian Oaks and Filly World Trotting Derby last year, made her second qualifier start of the season on May 13. She was second to Self Righteous, beaten by half a length, in 1:56.4. She is trained by Jan Johnson.

PINK RIBBONS: Three-year-old trotting filly Pink Ribbons, who donates 10% of her earnings to The Victory Center, a Toledo, Ohio program for those in treatment for cancer, will race for the second time this season at Scioto Downs this Thursday. The filly is owned by breast cancer survivors June White and Nancy Greenfield. Pink Ribbons races with two pink ribbons braided in her mane to signify her two owners and her caretaker, Andrea Miller, has dyed her buxton martingale bright pink. To date, Pink Ribbons'earnings have produced $2,408 for The Victory Center (www.thevictorycenter.org).

The daughter of Mr. Vic, who is aiming for a stakes debut in the June 3 Casual Breeze at Woodbine Racecourse in Toronto, also has the Hambletonian Oaks and Breeders Crown on her dance card.