The final preliminary round of the John Brennan Trotting Series on Wednesday, April 15 at MGM Yonkers Raceway went just like the second leg as Ma Isabelle and Kazio Dk both won their $41,667 divisions.

In the first split, Ma Isabelle (Pat Lachance) tracked Green Mel (Yannick Gingras) from the two-hole through stations of :28.3, :57.3 and 1:26.2. Green Mel tired late, and Ma Isabelle pounced on the inside, rallying for the victory by a neck in 1:55.2. Zenmeister S (Jason Bartlett), the 1-5 favourite, went first-up from third nearing three-quarters and gained ground in the lane but had to settle for second, while Green Mel faded to third.

Lachance trains the victorious five-year-old daughter of Alarm Detector-Fiery Manes for owner/breeders Tom and Elizabeth Rankin of St. Catharines, Ont. Ma Isabelle has 11 wins, 14 seconds and 11 thirds from 67 career starts and has earned $268,493. She paid $35.94 to win as a 16-1 shot. 

Commodus A (Bartlett) clicked off opening-half panels of :29.1 and :58.3 in the second section and then got separation on pocket-sitting Kazio Dk (Gingras) on the way to the 1:26.2 three-quarters. However, Kazio Dk reeled Commodus A back in on the last turn, and when Gingras sent Kazio Dk two-wide in the lane, the gelding went right by Commodus A and on to a 2-1/2-length victory in 1:54.3. Exquisite Taste (Lachance) checked in third.

Gingras also co-owns the Ron Burke-trained Kazio Dk, a five-year-old gelding by Muscle Massive-Sasha, with partners Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC and FAC Racing LLC. Kazio Dk has a summary of 8-11-4 from 36 appearances and has banked $163,700. He returned $4.38 to win as the even-money second choice.

The John Brennan Trotting Series concludes next Wednesday, April 22 with the $100,000 USD (guaranteed) final and $50,000 USD (guaranteed) consolation. After being contested at the distance of a mile-and-a-quarter in 2025, the final and consolation will go back to the standard mile distance this year. The John Brennan Trotting Series is named in honour of the longtime Standardbred Owners Association of New York horsemen's representative who passed away from complications of COVID-19 in March 2020.

Stakes action continues at Yonkers on Friday and Monday with the fourth leg of the MGM Ursula McIntyre Pacing Series and MGM Borgata Pacing Series, respectively. The McIntyre has three $50,000 USD splits, as does the Borgata.

(Yonkers Raceway)