East Rutherford, NJ — With Spring season about to be sprung, nine pacers and amateur drivers went to post in the first race on Friday night’s (March 19) Big M card.

Rockinwiththebest (James Foley) left from the far outside and had the lead through a swift :27.1 quarter.  That is when Taste of History (Tony Beltrami) quarter moved to the lead and never had an anxious moment from there.  He was able to settle his pacer down on the lead and carved out sensible fractions the rest of the way all the way to the wire en route to a 4-length victory.

Beltrami said after the race “I was able to settle my horse down in second and got a breather and then made my move and this proved to be critical and helped me get the win.  I overdrove him last week and wasn’t able to give him a breather.”

Ideal Tyson A (Joe Lee) made up some ground but could only manage a second-place finish and May I Cruise West (Mark Shullstrom) got up for third at big odds.  The 6-year-old gelding is out of the mare Rafanelli and is sired by Badlands Hanover.   He is owned by Tony Beltrami out of Bethlehem, PA and trained by Williams Hernandez.

The GSY Series will be set for the Final next Friday night with a purse of $15,000.  The first post is scheduled at 6:20 p.m.