State Of Mind, off at 16-1, surprised the favourites in the $56,400 MGM Rewards Ladies Pacing Series final at Yonkers Raceway on Wednesday (March 30), using an inside trip and capitalizing on a speed battle to win in 1:53.4.
Off The Record blasted from the pole position and forced Gabbys Girl to tuck in behind her from post 2 in the early going. Meanwhile, 2-5 favourite Belina moved up methodically on the outside towards the front, but she didn't clear until after a :27.1 opening quarter. Belina then backed the tempo to a :56 half with Gabbys Girl moving first-over from third before that station.
Gabbys Girl quickly moved up to engage Belina on the lead and even gained a slim advantage on the rim prior to the 1:24.1 three-quarters. However, Belina was able to hold inside position and then dispatch Gabbys Girl for good on the last turn. Meanwhile, Off The Record had gone three-wide after being able to get out of the pocket and into a second-over position, allowing State Of Mind, who had gotten away in fourth from post 5, to move into the two-hole on the final bend.
After Gabbys Girl retreated before the top of the lane, that gave Bartlett a path to tip State Of Mind out two-wide to chase after the battle-weary Belina. While the favourite did have something left and dug in to start the drive to the wire, State Of Mind was going the better of the two and forged her way by in mid-stretch. From there, State Of Mind went on to tally a 1-1/2-length victory over Off The Record with Belina third and Pull Me Through back in fourth. JM Betonsix grabbed the fifth-place check.
A four-year-old Roll With Joe mare, State Of Mind is trained by Nik Drennan for the ownership group of Donald Lindsey, Paul Kleinpaste, William Alempijevic, and Garth Bechtel. State Of Mind, who raced in two of the three preliminary legs of the MGM Rewards Ladies Pacing Series and was third on each occasion, now has seven victories from 23 tries, and she boosted her earnings to $97,337. She paid $35.00 to win and led a $279.50 exacta and a $773.00 trifecta. Jason Bartlett drove the winner.
In other news from the Wednesday program, the best anybody could do in the Pick 6 sequence was five-out-of-six, triggering a carryover of $5,133.29 in the sequence to Thursday night's (March 31) nine-race card. The Pick 6, which begins in Race 3, is a $1 base wager and has a takeout rate of 20 percent.
With the conclusion of the MGM Rewards Ladies Pacing Series, attention now shifts to the third legs of the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series and the MGM Borgata Pacing Series on Friday (April 1) and Monday (April 4) at Yonkers.
Mystical Carrie and Easy To Please, who improved to two-for-two in the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series for open pacing mares a week ago, are both off this week, but the likes of Miss You N, Drama Act, Dragon Roll, Karma Seelster, Blue Ivy, Scarlett Hanover and Racine Bell are in action in a trio of $40,000 divisions.
There are five $50,000 flights of the MGM Borgata Pacing Series for free-for-allers. This Is The Plan, Western Joe, American Dealer N, and Ostro Hanover, who have all won a leg of the series thus far, meet up in Monday's eighth race, and three of the second leg winners (Whichwaytothebeach, Jack's Legend N, and Nandolo N) face off in race nine.
Yonkers is currently operating on a Monday-Friday live racing schedule, with post time each night at 6:55 p.m. (EDT).
(Yonkers Raceway)