So Irresistible putting on the charm

After seeing her career delayed by injury, So Irresistible is charming her connections with her competitive ways. The 3-year-old female pacer has posted six victories and hit the board a total of 12 times in 14 starts since making her debut last November.

On Friday, she will test the Grand Circuit for the first time when she races in the second of two eliminations of the Park MGM Pace for 3-year-old fillies at Yonkers Raceway. She is 5-1 on the morning line, the third choice behind once-beaten Test Of Faith (2-1) and Dan Patch Award-winner Fire Start Hanover (5-2).

Andy McCarthy will drive So Irresistible from post four for trainer Bruce Saunders.

So Irresistible, who was sidelined in May of last year by a fractured pastern, earlier this season captured the Bobby Weiss Series for 3-year-old filly pacers at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. Since then, she has held her own in two Pennsylvania Sire Stakes starts and twice finished third behind older rivals in conditioned events.

“She trained down great last year, acted like a good filly,” said Saunders, who conditions the filly for owners Cotton and Julie Nash. “She had a P1 fracture just around the time we were getting ready to qualify. I liked her, but you never really know until they see the starting gate and get around other horses.

“We started her late just to see if we were correct in our evaluation that she had talent so we could stake her appropriately. We raced her a few times (in 2020) and thought she had enough speed and ability to stake her the way we did. She’s in most of the things a good filly will be in, the Mistletoe Shalee and Breeders Crown, things like that. We’re dreaming a little bit in technicolor.”

Although she is making her open stakes debut Friday, So Irresistible has already faced Grand Circuit winners such as Continualou, Blue Diamond Eyes, Marsala Hanover, and JK Alwaysbalady while on the PASS circuit. She was third in one PASS event and fourth, beaten only a length, in the other.

“She’s been good,” Saunders said. “She hasn’t had things go the way we’d like to see them go, the races just haven’t come together the right way, but she’s effective. She’s got talent and she always tries hard. She’s been competitive every time she shows up.”

So Irresistible, by Always B Miki out of Some Fancy Filly, has never started on a half-mile track such as Yonkers, but Saunders is not concerned.

“She’s a good athlete, so I think she will negotiate it,” Saunders said. “The level of competition is the issue. She hooked what appears to be the tougher of the two divisions. But I’m happy with the post position and hopefully she will get around the track and get a good enough trip to qualify for the final.

“It’s a very strong division. I’m kind of anxious and curious to see how she fits in with those horses on that track.”

In the first elimination, Heart Of Mine is the 9-5 morning-line favorite. She is unbeaten in five races this year for trainer Linda Toscano and driver Scott Zeron. She was last season’s New York Sire Stakes championship runner-up behind Test Of Faith.

Also on Friday, Yonkers hosts eliminations for the MGM Yonkers Trot for 3-year-old trotters, MGM Grand Messenger Stakes for 3-year-old pacers, and New York-New York Mile for 3-year-old female trotters.

Racing begins at 7:15 p.m. (EDT) Friday at Yonkers. For complete entries, click here.

by Ken Weingartner, for the USTA