Miss Dolce used a well-timed move by driver Vinny Ginsburg to pull off a mild surprise in the second of two $63,380 finals of the Renaissance for two-year-old pacers at The Meadowlands on Saturday, Oct. 17.

The Perfect Sting-Beautiful Candy product took the split for fillies from off the pace, winning for the first time in 10 lifetime tries in 1:53.2.

In the early going, predictably, 7-2 second choice Perfect Hope Deo (Jonathan Ahle) led at the quarter in :28 before 1-2 favourite Perfect Body (Brett Beckwith), the New Jersey Sire Stakes Platinum-level champion, took over well before the half, which she reached in :56.3.

Nearing the far turn, Call Me Crazy (Stacy Chiodo) made a bold move first-over to get into contention going after the leader, and Ginsburg popped out of three-hole to pick up some brief, yet effective, cover as Perfect Body went past three-quarters in 1:25.3. Through the stretch, Miss Dolce was tipped off cover and was vicious for the final eighth of a mile on the way to a half-length score over Perfect Body. Perfect Hope Deo was third.

“(My horse) was really nice and I wanted to give her a shot,” said Ginsburg. “I qualified against (Call Me Crazy) last week and she qualified pretty good, and when I saw her come first-over and I was able to slide her out, I knew she’d get me there. I wanted to get (my horse) out and rolling.

“When I moved her over, it was a little bit tight, and she wanted to go. She got a little doubled up but once I fanned her out, she cleaned up pretty nice.”

As the 9-2 third choice, Miss Dolce, a Joe Holloway trainee owned by the conditioner and Val d'Or Farms, returned $11.80 to win.

In the Renaissance dash for colts and geldings, a race that was conducted before the betting program, it was Aintmyfirstro Deo winning for the sixth time from seven starts in wire-to-wire fashion for Big M leading driver Brett Beckwith and trainer Megan Scran.

The gelded son of Perfect Sting-Some Renditions reached the quarter on the point in :27.2, and after backing down the pace to a :56.2 half and 1:24.4 three-quarters, used a :27.3 kicker to record an easy 2-3/4-length score in 1:52.2. Finishing second was Five Alarm Fire (Braxten Boyd), a Dr. Ian Moore trainee who dealt Aintmyfirstro Deo his only career defeat in the $208,333 New Jersey Classic final on Sept. 11. Jerzy George (Mark Herschberger) finished third.

Aintmyfirstro Deo is owned by Hutchison Harness LLC of North Ridgeville, Ohio.

Mark Herschberger led the driver colony with four wins on the night. John Urbanski and Rico Robinson topped the trainers with a pair of walks down victory lane apiece. 

All-source betting on the 15-race program totalled $1,983,659. 

Racing resumes Friday at 6:20 p.m.

(Meadowlands Racetrack; photo of Aintmyfirstro Deo winning on Aug. 7)