Yonkers, NY – Ron Burke trainees Divine Deo and JM Betonsix were the winners of the pair of $20,000 divisions of the opening round of the MGM Rewards Ladies Pacing Series for 3-and 4-year-old fillies and mares on Wednesday night (March 9) at a soggy Yonkers Raceway.

Starting from post one and driven by George Brennan in the initial grouping, Divine Deo came out of the pocket on the first turn after getting away in second and took command away from State Of Mind (Yannick Gingras) prior to the :28.3 opening quarter. From there, Divine Deo stayed in front through a :58.1 half and a 1:26.2 three-quarters on her way to a two length victory in 1:54.3. Belina (Jordan Stratton) was the runner-up after making a first-over move out of fourth in the last quarter, and State Of Mind was the third-place finisher.

Divine Deo, a 4-year-old Bettor’s Delight mare, is trained by Burke for the ownership group of Burke Racing Stable LLC. and Weaver Bruscemi LLC. This was her 11th win from 34 career starts, and she has now earned $90,875. She was sent off at 1-5 and paid $2.80 to win. The exacta kicked back $7.40 and the trifecta was worth $12.80.

In the other flight, JM Betonsix (Gingras) left from the outside post seven but had to work to get around Gabby’s Girl (Matt Kakaley), finally doing so just after the :28 second opening quarter. JM Betonsix would then be unchallenged through middle-half panels of :57.4 and 1:26, and a :29.1 last quarter got her to the wire a length and a quarter ahead of Gabby’s Girl in a 1:55.1 effort. Off The Record (Scott Zeron) sat third on the cones and wound up finishing in that position.

Gingras also co-owns JM Betonsix, a 4-year-old daughter of Betting Line, with Frank Canzone. JM Betonsix now has a record of 7-6-4 from 30 appearances, and she pushed her bankroll to $91,253. JM Betonsix, the 4-5 choice, returned $3.70 to win and was atop a $15.80 exacta and a $46.00 trifecta.

Matt’s Muscles, a 5-year-old Deweycheatumnhowe gelding who was making his debut for Burke in tonight’s sixth race, was also victorious, giving the stable a hat trick on the program.

Stakes action continues next week at Yonkers with the second rounds of the MGM Rewards Gents Pacing Series (Tuesday) and MGM Rewards Ladies Pacing Series (Wednesday), and those events will be joined on Friday by the opening leg of the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series for older pacing mares, commencing the Grand Circuit schedule for 2022.

Yonkers is currently hosting live racing Monday-Friday, with each card getting underway at 6:55 p.m.