Meadowlands: Atlanta rallies by Manchego to capture Cutler Memorial

Coming off a race where they were separated by just a nose in the first round of the Miss Versatility Series, another showdown was expected between Atlanta and Manchego in Saturday night's $170,900 Arthur J. Cutler Memorial for free-for-all trotters on Saturday night at the Meadowlands, and the two world-class mares didn't disappoint, with Atlanta getting the decision this time in a 1:50 1/5 stakes record performance.

Starting right next to each other in posts five (Atlanta) and six (Manchego), the two mares fired out, and Atlanta made Manchego work for the lead, with Yannick Gingras stringing out Dexter Dunn past a hot 25 4/5 opening quarter before yielding for the pocket. Dunn then backed down the tempo in the second quarter, reaching the half in 54 3/5, and Chin Chin Hall (Brian Sears) was out and moving first-up from sixth at that point.

Chin Chin Hall's advance continued around the far turn, and he was up to look Manchego in the eye at the 1:23 1/5 three-quarters. Behind those two, the likely key sequence of the race occurred when Southwind Chrome (Scott Zeron) gapped cover slightly from second-over, allowing Atlanta to slip to the outside behind Chin Chin Hall nearing three-quarters, and then Gingras angled the former Hambletonian champion out three-wide coming off the far turn.

In the lane Manchego kicked on and put away Chin Chin Hall for good, but Atlanta towered up to their outside, and although Manchego dug in in her usual game and determined fashion, Atlanta got by and won the race by a half a length. Lindy The Great (Andy Miller) came with a powerful, wide rally from fourth-over to get up for third, Southwind Chrome re-rallied some in the lane to get fourth, and Chin Chin Hall hung around for fifth.

"Maybe not 25 4/5, it's hard to think we'd be going that fast, but yeah I definitely wanted to stretch her out. I had drawn inside of her, and I wanted to take advantage of it," said Gingras. "There was definitely an anxious moment around the last turn. We were going pretty slow, and it was basically strategy on both sides. He was trying to keep me locked in, and thankfully I was able to squeeze out. In the stretch there was no anxious moment."

Ron Burke trains Atlanta, a 5-year-old daughter of Chapter Seven, for owners Crawford Farms Racing, Bradley Grant, and Howard Taylor. This was Atlanta's 21st career win, and she has now earned $2,014,089. The 8-5 second choice, she paid $5.40 to win.