Yannick Gingras had multiple wins Friday night at the Meadowlands, and among them was Dayson, who took the featured $20,000 conditioned trot.
“He’s such a nice horse that tries his best every time,” said Gingras. Sure, Dayson did his job, no doubt, but so did Gingras, who gave his horse a perfect steer.
The first turn looked like a rugby scrum as Lagerfeld had rail position. Dayson was to that one’s outside and Obrigado was three wide and winging. Gingras opted to back Dayson off into the three-hole as Lagerfeld yielded to Obrigado, who hit the quarter while parked in :27.4.
“There was definitely more action than I thought there would be in the first turn,” said Gingras. “But I figured Dayson was the best and he proved it.”
Showing little patience, Gingras moved swiftly with Dayson to the top after vacating the rail at the three-eighths and cleared before the half as Obrigado was put in the pocket. Max was now on the move, gaining on the leader from first-over, but Dayson – who was able to rate the middle half in :58 – still had a length on that foe both at three-quarters and the head of the stretch.
Through the final three-sixteenths, Dayson showed his class, fending off a pesky Max to his outside and Obrigado to his inside, holding on determinedly to defeat Max by a neck in 1:54.1. Obrigado was third.
Dayson, a seven-year-old gelded son of Conway Hall-Nerveys Taurus who is trained by Ron Burke, returned $3.20 to his backers as the odds-on favourite. He has now won 37-of-87 lifetime starts, good for earnings of $1,167,377 for owners Burke Racing Stable & Weaver Bruscemi, J&T Silva-Purnel&Libby and L. Karr.
(Meadowlands)