Half-mile track world champion This Is The Plan appears primed to defend his MGM Borgata title after a sharp winning effort in qualifying action on Friday (March 11) at The Meadowlands.
Making his second qualifying appearance of 2022, the seven-year-old double millionaire sat the pocket behind Arties Ideal (Andy McCarthy) through a soft :29.3 opening quarter before driver Yannick Gingras asked the speedster to loop to the lead down the backside. After a :58.1 half, This Is The Plan stepped up the tempo with a :27.3 third split to hit the third station up by three in 1:25.3 and then sprinted home in :25.4 to trip the timer more than four lengths the best in 1:51.2.
This Is The Plan (Somebeachsomewhere - Thats The Plan) is trained by Ron Burke and owned by Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, JandT Silva Purnel And Libby and Larry Karr. The veteran pacer comes into 2022 with a 20-25-12 from 94 appearances, $2,636,242 in earnings and a sizzling 1:47.3 mark taken at Northfield Park in 2021.
There's a good chance This Is The Plan will make his 2022 pari-mutuel debut in the opening leg of the MGM Borgata Pacing Series on March 21 at Yonkers Raceway.
Four-year-old Town Gossip won the fastest dash of the morning, going gate-to-wire in a sharp 1:50.4 in his second effort of the season. The sophomore stakes winner held off One Eight Hundred (Josert Fonseca) by a neck in his second qualifier of the year. Tim Tetrick handled the driving duties for trainer Jenn Bongiorno and owner Robert Weinstein.