Away last in the early stages, Yannickatnite Gingras accelerated for the front late and kicked clear of the competition to win the $12,500 Breeders Crown Dash for Cash relay at The Red Mile on Sunday (Oct. 3), an event which is part of the Breeders Crown Charity Challenge.

Yannickatnite Gingras, the team comprised of driver Yannick Gingras and Sarah Svanstedt, raced fourth through the first 50 yards of the relay as Nancy Takter led for Top Dunn Dex to the center of the track with David Millertime in close pursuit to the pylons. Svanstedt and Gingras wasted little time in the trade off to the final 50 yards and motored home a two-length winner in an unofficial time of 21 seconds – a track record performance. Dexter Dunn nabbed second with Top Dunn Dex from a stubborn Andymccrtheoryofrelativity to the inside in third and David Millertime settled for fourth.

“It was very hard actually, but I was happy I trained my ‘horse,’” Sarah Svanstedt said after the race. “He saved the day. I think I’ve been harder on him than he had been on me, but it was very fun.”

“It was never in doubt really,” Gingras said. “You’ve got to look at the competition, and I thought it was pretty weak. I figured we were easy winners.”

The victory rewards Team Yannick Gingras $4,000 for the charity they represent through the Breeders Crown Charity Challenge – the N.J. Pandemic Relief Fund. Team Dexter Dunn, which almost went without one Dexter Dunn until the 11-time New Zealand driving champ came running to the start with few minutes to post time, earned $3,250 for the John Theurer Cancer Center.

“I sent a call into the vet shop on the way here, get sounded up a little bit for the run,” Dunn said of running late. “I was trying to miss it, to be honest. I drove Yannick to Dayton last night – he talked smack the whole way, the whole way there and the whole way back. So I was really hoping to beat him, but I looked up and they were running off the screen on us. There was a side bet there, but I’m happy with my second."

Andrew McCarthy, finishing third with Makenna Pinske for Tim Tetrick, substituted for the Bionic Man in the event. Their finish earned Team Tim Tetrick $2,750 for the Special Olympics of New Jersey.

“That was fun. Standard – I lack a little gate speed, but we got through it,” McCarthy said.

“We were the only team that didn’t chat,” Pinske said. “I was kind of hoping Andy would carry the team, but it didn’t really go that way.”

Julie Miller and David Miller of David Millertime, though finishing last of the four, collected $2,500 for Team David Miller’s charity, the enCourage Kids Foundation.

“I just wanted to not fall down was my goal, initially,” Julie Miller said. “We were in alignment… I don’t really know what happened today, I apologize for our bad performance!”

“Our performance wasn’t up to par,” David Miller said, “but we’ll probably get scoped and get blood drawn on us and see what the problem was.”

The Breeders Crown Charity Challenge is a year-long event presented by the Libfeld/Katz Breeding Partnership. To date, the Breeders Crown Charity Challenge has raised over $400,000 for selected local charities in the tri-state area.

(The Red Mile)