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This Is The Plan was able to overcome starting from the outside post eight with a blitz off the gate and then never let anybody get close to him after that in winning Monday night s $514,000 MGM Borgata Pacing Series final at Yonkers Raceway in 1:50.4.
This Is The Plan, driven by Yannick Gingras and one of three in the final sent out by trainer Ron Burke, was dispatched at odds of 11-1.
Rockapelo (George Brennan), Hesa Kingslayer N (Jim Marohn, Jr.), Mach N Cheese (Joe Bongiorno), Western Joe (Dexter Dunn), Backstreet Shadow (Tim Tetrick), and This Is The Plan all showed speed at the start of the race, but it was This Is The Plan who was able to go from six-wide early on the bend to leading over stablemate Rockapelo by the time they entered the backstretch for the first time. Everybody else then got down to the cones except for Backstreet Shadow, who was left on the outside as the first quarter rang up in :26.4.
• Updated: 14/04/2021 - 08:00
As coronavirus vaccine programmes gain pace across the continent, so too are hopes for the return of summer holidays.
Italy has announced plans to vaccinate all residents on the country’s holiday islands as a matter of urgency to help kickstart local economies dependent on tourism.
The move, backed by the country’s tourism minister, comes as Italian mayors call for the country to follow Greece’s example.
Italy’s Adriatic neighbour announced similar plans to vaccinate the inhabitants of all 69 of its islands to revive the country’s bedraggled tourism industry.
Italy’s plans aren’t without controversy, however, with popular tourist regions on mainland Italy protesting that, as bigger draws for foreign visitors, they are being left out in the cold.
With two horses already guaranteed spots in the final of the MGM Borgata Series for older male pacers, trainer Ron Burke will look to add a third on Monday (April 12), when Yonkers Raceway hosts the last preliminary round of the six-week event.
Based on points accumulated in the series, the Burke Brigade’s Rockapelo and This Is The Plan are among five horses to have already secured places in the eight-horse final on April 19. The others are Western Joe, Hesa Kingslayer N and Leonidas A.
Burke’s Backstreet Shadow is in the best position to join that group, pending the outcomes in Monday’s last preliminary divisions of the series. Backstreet Shadow, sixth in points, is the 8-5 morning-line favourite in the first of the last three Borgata splits, starting from post one.
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