Hightstown, NJ – Coaches Corner is from Indiana, but he’s made New York – specifically MGM Yonkers Raceway – feel like home.
In the time since the now 6-year-old male pacer first visited Yonkers on Sept. 26, 2023, no horse has earned more money at The Hilltop than Coaches Corner. The son of Always A Virgin-Carobbean Pacetry has banked $892,710 at the half-mile oval, and his 20 wins there during that span have been exceeded by only two horses.
In addition, the gelding has been second on 14 occasions, giving him a total of 34 top-two finishes in 37 starts at Yonkers, a nearly 92-percent rate.
“That’s his track,” said Jeff Fought, who with Brian Carsey, has owned Coaches Corner since Aug. 30, 2023.
“He raced on the (half-mile) fair tracks in Indiana as a 2- and 3-year-old; he’s always been good on a half and he loves Yonkers.”
Coaches Corner won eight of nine half-mile track races at the Indiana fairs as a 3-year-old before capturing the Indiana Sired Fair Circuit’s $25,000 Governor’s Cup championship on the Indiana State Fair’s one-mile oval for owner/trainer Byron Hooley. Coaches Corner made one more start for Hooley before being sold, then went 8-for-8 to finish the season for his new connections, with seven of the victories coming at Yonkers.
Given his success at Yonkers, Coaches Corner was entered in the 2024 MGM Borgata Pacing Series for older male pacers as a 4-year-old, and he responded with a win and four seconds in the preliminary rounds before finishing second to Hellabalou in the $457,000 final.
“It wasn’t really the plan,” Fought said about racing in the Borgata that year. “We sent him out there (to Yonkers) to be a nice condition horse, hopefully, and he excelled way beyond that. So, we gave it a try right from the start.”
Last year, Coaches Corner posted three wins and two seconds in the Borgata’s five preliminary rounds but drew post eight – the outermost spot on the starting gate – for the $516,000 Grade 1 final and finished fifth.
Now, the Per Engblom trainee is set for a third go-round in the series, which this year begins Monday (March 30) with five $50,000 first-round divisions. Coaches Corner is in the fifth group and will leave from post six, in a field of six, with regular driver Jason Bartlett (the 14-time leading driver at Yonkers and 2025 Dan Patch Driver of the Year). He is the 6-5 morning-line favorite.
“He’s got a lot of gate speed, and I think that’s probably why he excels at Yonkers,” Fought said. “He’s gotten a little more versatile over the years, but on the front, he’s a real brave horse. I think his gate speed, and the way he swells up on the front, are a good fit for Yonkers. Jason is a huge help, too, there is no doubt about that.”
Coaches Corner’s success over the years hasn’t been limited to Yonkers. He won the 2024 Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial at Saratoga and finished second in the 2025 Breeders Crown Open Pace (G1) at Woodbine Mohawk Park, a division of the 2025 Sam McKee Memorial (G2) at the Meadowlands, and the 2024 Battle of Lake Erie at Northfield. He was third in the 2025 FanDuel Open Pace Championship (G1) at the Big M.
Overall, he has won 35 of 92 career starts, finished second or third an additional 30 times, and earned $1.48 million. He has earned a paycheck in 55 of 60 races since Fought and Carsey purchased him.
“He just always shows up,” Fought said. “You can look back through the time we’ve had him and there’s not really a line where you could say he raced bad. I’ve never been part of owning a horse like that. They all toss in some clunkers, but he never really has. That’s big. A horse that always shows up – they’re hard to come by.”
Coaches Corner, who closed his 2025 campaign by capturing the $250,000 final of the MGM Grand Prix Pacing Series at Yonkers in mid-December, prepped for his 2026 seasonal debut in Monday’s Borgata opener with two qualifiers at the Meadowlands, winning the second in 1:50.4 with a :26.3 last quarter mile on March 21.
“He qualified twice, he’s ready to go,” Fought said. “We’re going for money now, so it’s time to get serious.”
The MGM Borgata Pacing Series has five preliminary rounds through April 27 before the $200,000 (added) final and $100,000 (guaranteed) consolation on Friday, May 8. For more about the first round of the series, click here.
Racing begins at 6:45 p.m. (EDT) at Yonkers. For free race day programs, visit the Standardbred Owners Association of New York website here.