East Rutherford, NJ — Stellenbosch withstood bitter pressure in a dazzling effort on a rainy Friday night (Jan. 15) at The Meadowlands, taking the $18,000 featured high-end conditioned pace for fillies and mares in wire-to-wire fashion.

Stellenbosch and driver Scott Zeron finish off a wire-to-wire win in the Friday night feature at The Meadowlands. Lisa photo.

Driver Scott Zeron, who raced Stellenbosch from off the pace after drawing outside posts in her previous two outings, fired away from post four in the nine-horse field, grabbing the lead on the first turn before hitting the quarter in :26.4.

There was no spot for Callmequeenbee A, who left from post eight, and that one had to rough it uncovered on the rim. She engaged Stellenbosch in a cut-throat battle to the half over the track rated ‘good’ in an eye-popping :53.4.

Enter 6-5 favorite Ivana Flybye N, a Woodbine at Mohawk Park shipper that hadn’t raced in 26 days, who circled up three-wide around the far turn under a full head of steam on the way to an apparent score as Callmequeenbee A predictably faltered.

But Stellenbosch wasn’t having it.

Zeron and the 2-1 second choice kept to their task as Ivana Flybye N flattened out and went on to a 2-1/2 length win. The pocket-sitting She’s Nun Bettor N out-finished Ivana Flybye N in the race for place.

“Because I had driven her aggressively in the past,” said Zeron. “I knew I could leave with her. We took back with her two weeks in a row and were waiting for the right spot. I definitely didn’t think she would be that good for the final half-mile but if she was ever going to be at her best, it was going to be tonight. Everything led up to her putting forth a good effort.”

Despite the soggy conditions, Stellenbosch, a 7-year-old daughter of Mach Three-Catch A Wish who paid $6.00 to win, lowered her previous lifetime best by one-and-three-fifth seconds, hitting the wire in 1:50.2. The Scott Blackler trainee, who is owned by Millar Farms, now has 14 wins from 102 lifetime starts and earnings of $184,474.

A LITTLE MORE: The off-going didn’t alter the form as seven favorites scored on the 14-race card. Overall, winner’s odds were 3-1 or less for 12 of the races. … Dexter Dunn and Yannick Gingras led the driver’s colony as both won three races on the program. … Jeff Cullipher and Ron Burke had training doubles. … All-source handle totaled $2,878,592. … Racing resumes Saturday at 6 p.m. … Check out the Dan Patch Awards show on the live Meadowlands feed. It gets underway at 5 p.m. after which Dave Brower will interview a special guest in another edition of “In the Sulky”.