Will a mare get forgotten in $276,200 Matchmaker Final?

Will Mikala (Always B Miki) be the forgotten pacing mare in harness racing’s $276,200 Blue Chip Matchmaker Final at Yonkers Raceway on Monday night (April 22nd)?

The six-year-old Nik Drennan pupil comes in off a front-end win in the fourth leg of the series, and with two wins in the first four legs and a spot in the final, she skipped leg five. But she got no favors with the post draw for the final, getting post seven in the field of eight.

Certainly, it’s no picnic drawing wide facing so some of the best mares in North America, but Mikala – in rein to her regular driver George Brennan – has a history of scoring a big upset in a big spot.

Consider the richest and fastest win of her career, which came in the $159,000 Dorothy Haughton Memorial last July. Dismissed at 41 to 1 leaving from post seven, Mikala sat parked the whole mile, followed cover while chasing wicked fractions, and closed from eighth at the half to win going away in 1:47.4.

Mikala closed as favorite in every one of her preliminary legs, never going off higher than even money, she could get lost in the wagering this week starting from post seven, and she might end up being the value of the Matchmaker Final. She is listed at 9 to 2 in the morning line.

Bettors will look at her recent form and see that Mikala dropped back to sixth in leg three when she left from post six and finished sixth and perhaps assume that a similar scenario is likely in this Matchmaker Final. But does that seem likely with The Minister of Speed Brennan guiding one of the best mares in the race?

One need only look back to The Mares Invitational raced at Yonkers on February 9th to see what Mikala is capable of when leaving from an outside post at Yonkers. On that occasion, leaving from the widest post in a field of six, Brennan fired Mikala right to the front and she led all the way, never letting a rival get closer to her than 1 1/2 lengths.

Certainly the 18-time winner from 50 starts faces much tougher in this final than she did on February 9th when she closed as the overwhelming 1 to 9 favorite. Lit De Rose (Leader Bayama), who became a millionaire winning for the 50th time last week in leg five of the series, drew the rail and is the obvious mare to beat starting the race with rail control. Pat Lachance drives and trains the nine-year-old mare.

Coachellabound N (Sweet Lou) is another mare that no doubt will be looking to protect position leaving from post two. The Ricky Bucci trainee took her first win in the series in leg five last week, guided to victory by Yannick Gingras, who sent her to the front in the second quarter from where she led the rest of the way for a 1:53.3 win. She is the 3 to 1 second choice in the morning line with Gingras once again listed to drive.

So, it seems certain that Mikala N will close no lower than the third choice when the windows close, but there is a chance she could close much higher mainly due to the post draw. Which begs the question: can she win deploying a stalking/closing style? The quick answer is yes, but she will need a strong early pace to close into.

In this year’s Matchmaker Final, she will likely need a little racing luck, but the reward might be worth the risk on this mare that could get ignored in the wagering again.

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by Garnet Barnsdale, for Harnesslink