East Rutherford, NJ — It was one for the chalk players and one for those who like bombs in the two $17,500 Play Meadowlands Series Finals at The Meadowlands Friday night (Feb. 20).

Its Mesmerise N and driver Scott Zeron take the Play Meadowlands Final for pacing fillies and mares at The Meadowlands Friday night. Lisa Photo.

In the division for pacing fillies and mares, Its Mesmerise N (Scott Zeron) completed a two-race sweep of the event for trainer Darran Cassar.

Sent to the gate as the 1-5 public choice for a second straight start despite facing a tougher field this time around, Zeron had the 7-year-old daughter of American Ideal-Cullens Charm in the three-hole early before brushing to the top at the half, which was clocked in a quick :54.2.

Windsong Parisian (Corey Callahan), the 10-1 fourth choice in the 10-horse field, applied pressure to the leader while first-over past the half and three-quarters (1:22.1) and appeared to be done off the turn as they straightened away in the stretch, but she kept on digging all the way to the wire through a slow final quarter of :30.2 to come up a neck short of pulling off an upset. Misty Memory N (Simon Allard) was third.

“I wish I could have bided my time a little more,” said Zeron of moving Its Mesmerise N to the lead. “She raced unbelievably given the pressure and the fractions. When I had to move as early as I did at the half, it was a bit of a concern and the immediate pressure didn’t help. [Windsong Parisian] raced well. Both fillies cruised around the last turn and both hung in there down the lane. I think my horse is classier than these horses. I had been racing her from off the pace because she likes a target but had been a victim of being too far back. She showed tonight she can do it any which way.”

Its Mesmerise N paid $2.60 to win after completing the mile in 1:52.3 for her 18th-lifetime win from 69 starts. She now has earnings of $117,364.

Take A Wish pulls off an upset in the Play Meadowlands Final for trotters with Steve Smith in the bike. Lisa Photo.

Longshot lovers got their way in the Play Meadowlands for trotters as driver Steve Smith saved ground with Take A Wish from start to finish before bursting through between rivals late to score at 30-1 in 1:55.2.

After racing Take A Wish at the rail in eighth in the 10-horse field in the early going, as the flow developed on the rim, Smith advanced the Dawn Anderson trainee to the four-hole along the inside at the half. Remaining glued to the cones around the far turn, Smith waited until there was room and came with a rush in deep stretch to score the upset by a head and return $62.40. Life Well Lived (Dexter Dunn) closed well on the far outside to get second while third-place finisher Gruden (Billy Dobson), the 2-1 favorite, failed in a second straight attempt to go wire-to-wire.

Take A Wish, a 6-year-old mare by Wishing Stone-Take A Taste, won for the 12^th time from 85 lifetime outings and upped her earnings to $210,836.

A LITTLE MORE: Handle topped the $3-million mark again as a total of $3,080,321 was put in play on a 13-race card conducted over a sloppy track that saw snowy conditions for the first third of the program. Wagering has now surpassed $3 million on three straight Fridays, and 10 times overall for the 14 cards conducted thus far in 2021. … Driver of the Week Dexter Dunn kept on rolling, racking up three winners to up his Big M leading-driver victory tally to 42. He’s scored 15 times over the last four programs. … No one hit the 20-cent Pick-6, setting up Saturday’s wager with a carryover of $7,222. …. First-race post time on Saturday (Feb. 20) is 6 p.m. The Pick-6 begins in race eight. Free past performances for every race of every Meadowlands card are available by going to playmeadowlands.com.