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16-1 shot State Of Mind surprised the favorites in Wednesday night’s (March 30) $56,400 MGM Rewards Ladies Pacing Series harness racing final at Yonkers Raceway, using an inside trip and capitalizing on a battle in front of her to win in 1:53.4.
Off The Record (Scott Zeron) blasted out from the pole position and forced Gabby’s Girl (Matt Kakaley) to tuck in behind her from post two in the early going. Meanwhile, 2-5 favorite Belina (Jordan Stratton) moved up methodically on the outside towards the front, but she didn’t clear until after a 27.1 opening quarter went on the board. Belina then backed down the tempo to 56 seconds at the half, with Gabby’s Girl moving out first-over from third before that station.
Gabby’s Girl quickly moved up to engage Belina on the lead, and even gained a slim advantage on the rim prior to the 1:24.1 three-quarters. However, Belina was able to hold inside position and then dispatch Gabby’s Girl for good on the last turn. Meanwhile, Off The Record had gone three-wide after being able to get out of the pocket and into a second-over position, allowing State Of Mind (Jason Bartlett), who had gotten away in fourth from post five, to move into the two-hole on the final bend.
After Gabby’s Girl retreated before the top of the lane, that gave Bartlett a path to tip State Of Mind out two-wide to chase after the battle-weary Belina. While the favorite did have something left and dug in to start the drive to the wire, State Of Mind was going the better of the two and forged her way by in mid-stretch. From there, State Of Mind went on to tally by a length and a half over Off The Record, with Belina third and Pull Me Through (Jim Marohn Jr.) back in fourth. JM Betonsix (Yannick Gingras) grabbed the fifth-place check.
A 4-year-old Roll With Joe mare, State Of Mind is trained by Nik Drennan for the ownership group of Donald Lindsey, Paul Kleinpaste, William Alempijevic, and Garth Bechtel. State Of Mind, who raced in two of the three preliminary legs of the MGM Rewards Ladies Pacing Series and was third on each occasion, now has seven victories from 23 lifetime tries, and she boosted her earnings to $97,337. She paid $35.00 to win and led a $279.50 exacta and a $773.00 trifecta.
In other news from the Wednesday program, the best anybody could do in the Pick 6 sequence was five-out-of-six, triggering a carryover of $5,133.29 in the sequence on Thursday night’s nine-race card. The Pick 6, which begins in race three, is a $1 base wager and has a takeout rate of 20 percent.
With the conclusion of the MGM Rewards Ladies Pacing Series, attention now shifts to the third legs of the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series and the MGM Borgata Pacing Series on Friday (April 1) and Monday (April 4) at Yonkers.
Mystical Carrie and Easy To Please, who improved to two-for-two in the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series for open pacing mares a week ago, are both off this week, but the likes of Miss You N, Drama Act, Dragon Roll, Karma Seelster, Blue Ivy, Scarlett Hanover and Racine Bell are in action in a trio of $40,000 divisions.
There are five $50,000 flights of the MGM Borgata Pacing Series for free-for-allers. This Is The Plan, Western Joe, American Dealer N, and Ostro Hanover, who have all won a leg of the series thus far, meet up in Monday’s eighth race, and three of the second leg winners (Whichwaytothebeach, Jack’s Legend N, and Nandolo N) face off in race nine.
Yonkers is currently operating on a Monday-Friday live racing schedule, with post time each night at 6:55.
