Ron Burke trainees Divine Deo and JM Betonsix won their respective $20,000 first-round divisions of the MGM Rewards Ladies Pacing Series, for three- and four-year-old fillies and mares on Wednesday night (March 9) at a soggy Yonkers Raceway.

Starting from post one and driven by George Brennan in the initial grouping, Divine Deo came out of the pocket on the first turn after getting away in second and took command away from State Of Mind (Yannick Gingras) prior to the :28.3 opening quarter. From there, Divine Deo stayed in front through a :58.1 half and a 1:26.2 three-quarters on her way to a two-length victory in 1:54.3. Belina (Jordan Stratton) was the runner-up after moving first-over out of fourth in the last quarter, and State Of Mind was third.

Divine Deo, a four-year-old Bettors Delight mare, is trained by Burke for the ownership group of Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC. This was her 11th win from 34 career starts, and she has now earned $90,875. She was sent off at 1-5 and paid $2.80 to win. The exacta kicked back $7.40 and the trifecta was worth $12.80.

In the other flight, JM Betonsix (Gingras) left from the outside post seven but had to work to get around Gabbys Girl (Matt Kakaley), finally doing so just after the :28 opening quarter. JM Betonsix then was unchallenged through middle-half panels of :57.4 and 1:26, and a :29.1 last quarter got her to the wire 1-1/4 lengths ahead of Gabbys Girl in a 1:55.1 effort. Off The Record (Scott Zeron) sat third on the cones and wound up finishing in that position.

Gingras also co-owns JM Betonsix, a four-year-old daughter of Betting Line, with Frank Canzone. JM Betonsix now has a record of 7-6-4 from 30 appearances, and she pushed her bankroll to $91,253. JM Betonsix, the 4-5 choice, returned $3.70 to win and was atop a $15.80 exacta and a $46.00 trifecta.

Matts Muscles, a five-year-old Deweycheatumnhowe gelding who debuted for Burke in the sixth race, was also victorious, giving the stable a hat trick on the program.

Stakes action continues next week at Yonkers with the second round of the MGM Rewards Gents Pacing Series (Tuesday, March 15) and MGM Rewards Ladies Pacing Series (Wednesday, March 16), and those events will be joined on Friday (March 18) by the opening leg of the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series for older pacing mares, commencing the Grand Circuit schedule for 2022. 

Yonkers currently hosts live racing Monday through Friday, with each card getting underway at 6:55 p.m.

(Yonkers Raceway)