JM BETONSIX TAKES BIG M FEATURE, UPS WIN STREAK TO THREE

Saturday, February 5, 2022

JM Betonsix picked up her third straight win racing for the hottest tandem anywhere as the Yannick Gingras-driven, Ron Burke-trained 4-year daughter of Betting Line-Six Of Hearts won the $18,500 high-end conditioned pacing feature for fillies and mares at The Meadowlands Friday night.

Sent to the gate as the 4-5 favorite despite leaving from the outermost post seven in the seven-horse field (there was one scratch), JM Betonsix was able to cruise through fractions of :28, :56 and 1:24 unchallenged on the way to an easy 1-length victory in 1:52.2. Divine Deo – another Burke student – sat the pocket throughout to get the place spot with A Better Game third.

Gingras and Burke, who took home the Driver of the Week and Trainer of the Week honors from Jan. 21-22 with 10 and five wins, respectively, continued their early 2022 dominance at The Big M. Last weekend’s races were canceled due to the winter storm that hit the region.

JM Betonsix won her last start at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Dec. 31 of last year, then moved into Burke’s barn and won again on Jan. 21 at The Meadowlands before completing the natural hat trick Friday.

Owned by Frank Canzone and Gingras, JM Betonsix returned $3.60 in winning for the sixth time from 26 lifetime starts, good for a bank account of $74,163.

PICK-6 HIT: A double carryover of $14,033 in the 20-cent Pick-6 led to $61,639 in “new money” to create a total pool of $75,672, and those who selected all six winners walked away with a handsome payout of $2,012.86 after a sequence that was extremely haveable based on winner’s odds.

Starting in race eight and concluding with race 13, the odds of the winning horses were 3-1, 3-5, 4-1, 4-5, 1-1 and 9-2.

A LITTLE MORE: Driver Todd McCarthy, back from his vacation in his native Australia, had a winner on his first night back, scoring with 5-1 chance Captain’s Reign in the fourth race despite racing with a broken headpole. … Andy Miller, Joe Bongiorno and Gingras all had two winners on the program. Gingras maintained his sizable lead in the driver standings with 26 wins. Bongiorno is next with 15. … Jeff Cullipher trained a pair to victory lane. He now has 10 victories, just two behind leader Burke. … All-source handle totaled $2,408,338. … Racing resumes Saturday at 6:20 p.m.

PHOTO: JM Betonsix and driver Yannick Gingras take the Friday night feature at The Meadowlands. (Credit: Lisa Photo)