Manchego, a returning Dan Patch Award winner who won the Arthur J. Cutler Memorial in her 2021 debut, is the No. 1-ranked horse in this season’s first Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll. The six-year-old female trotter received 20 of 35 first-place votes.
Six-year-old male pacer This Is The Plan, the MGM Borgata Series champion and the sport’s leading money-winner, was second in the rankings. He was followed by four-year-old male trotter Its Academic, three-year-old male pacer Abuckabett Hanover, and six-year-old female pacer Machnhope in rounding out the top five.
Its Academic counts the Charlie Hill Memorial among his wins while Machnhope was the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series champion. Abuckabett Hanover handed Perfect Sting his first career loss in a division of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes earlier this month.
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.
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Leonidas A and Alexa Skye finished the preliminary rounds of the MGM Borgata Pacing Series and the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series at Yonkers Raceway with equal four-for-four records, but for their respective finals on Monday night (April 19), both of them face outside draws, with Leonidas A starting from post seven and Alexa Skye beginning from post six.
Driver Austin Siegelman raced Leonidas A from second-over in the first leg of the MGM Borgata Pacing Series, and that trip resulted in a victory, and then in his subsequent three starts in the event, which also saw Leonidas A emerge triumphant, Siegelman was more aggressive with his charge, planting him on the point before or just after the opening quarter. While Siegelman acknowledged that stalking horses is the six-year-old Mach Three gelding’s preferred journey, he had no issue with more aggressive handling either.
On Tuesday afternoon (April 13), the draws were held for the $514,000 MGM Borgata Pacing Series final and $232,800 Blue Chip Matchmaker Series final, both of which will take place on Monday, April 19 at Yonkers Raceway. In addition to the finals, there will also be consolation races in both events.
Leonidas A (above) finished with the most points in the MGM Borgata Pacing Series, but the draw for the final was not kind to him, as he will start from post seven in the eight-horse field. Austin Siegelman will be in the bike behind the Sheena Mcelhiney-trained and Jesmeral Stable-owned six-year-old Mach Three gelding.