Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

$55,000 Jersey Girls Final Taken by Ambootia

March 29, 2006

Ambootia, driven by George Brennan and trained by Richard J. Banca, scored a wire-to-wire victory in a stake record equaling time of 1:52 flat, matching the mark set by Yes Its True in 2001 in the $55,000 Jersey Girls Final Wednesday night at The Meadowlands.

Favorite Vysoke Tatry broke stride on the turn for home, recovered, and made a gallant bid but finished fifth as the 1-5 favorite.

“There was no real science to that drive,” said Brennan, who captured the Jersey Girls for the third time. “I leave with her every week, and I wasn’t going to do anything differently. I bust her out the quarter pretty good and then got a cheap half and three-quarters. Once Andy [Miller, driving Vysoke Tatry] made a break, I opened up daylight as much as I could, and she sprinted to the wire. I knew she [Vysoke Tatry] ran, and she’s done it before. That was in the back of my mind. I honestly thought that the only way I could beat her is if she did it again.”

Ambootia, a $30,000 claim for Saverio Gatto of East Rutherford, New Jersey and Steve Belkin of Cliffside Park, New Jersey, won the second-race feature by three-quarters of a length over Ideal Coast. I’m All In was four and three-quarter lengths back in third. The four-year-old daughter of Jenna’s Beach Boy now has 10 wins, four seconds and four thirds in 40 career starts for earnings of $150,653.

Vysoke Tatry, who had won the finals of the Snow Angel, White Ruffles and Night Styles as well as the first two rounds of the Jersey Girls, finished worse than second for the first time in nine starts this year. She brought a six-race winning streak into the Jersey Girls Final. Lifetime, she has won 14 of 19 starts.