Iam Bonasera returned to victory lane at the Meadowlands Racetrack on Saturday night after unleashing a 1:49.2 career-best winning effort in the $32,000 Invitational Pace
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With Yannick Gingras in the bike for one of his four wins on the card, favourite Iam Bonasera advanced to the lead from third after the :26.2 first quarter mark. The four-year-old son of Cole Muffler, who last won two starts ago on June 4 against Open competition at the Big M, reached the half in :54.1 and three-quarters in 1:22.3 before holding off Golden Receiver (Brandon Simpson) for the half-length score. Strand Hanover (Simon Allard) finished third for trainer Rene Allard, who enjoyed a productive Saturday night winning two races at the Big M and four at Georgian Downs.
Iam Bonasera is trained by Ron Burke for owners John Carver of Rapids City and Bert Hochsprung of Elburn, Illinois. The win was his second in five seasonal starts and 14th lifetime pushing his earnings to $25,840 for 2011 and $403,177 lifetime.
The win was one of two on the card for Burke, who also captured the $100,000 Gold Cup Invitational Pace at Mohawk Racetrack with Won The West in a 1:47.2 Canadian record, and picked up wins at various other tracks across the U.S. on Saturday night.