Meadowlands: Gingras wires Miss Versatility fields with Walspea, Miracle Maven

Yannick Gingras used a familiar tactic to perfection Saturday night, as his front-end driving excellence paid off big time while guiding both winners of the first leg of the Miss Versatility for open mare trotters at the Meadowlands.

In the opening $30,000 split, Gingras fired Walspea, a 4-year-old daughter of Walner-Speak To Me, to the top from the start from post five in the five-horse field (there was one scratch) and cut out fractions of 28 1/5, 57 1/5 and 1:25 2/5 on the way to an easy 2 1/4 length score in a lifetime-best-equaling 1:53 despite the sloppy conditions.

Bravo Angel S, the 3-5 favorite, rallied for second while never threatening the winner. Highlandstarburst was third.

"I thought she’d be ready (for this)," said winning trainer Trond Smedshammer. "One qualifier and one start, which I was very happy with. I thought she had a very good chance off those fractions. The favorite had a lot of work to do to catch her."

As the 8-1 fourth choice in the wagering, Walspea returned $18.80 to win while racking up her eighth lifetime victory in 23 tries to lift her earnings to just over $300,000.

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Miracle Maven's walk in the park in the second division featured fractions of 28 4/5, 57 1/5 and 1:26 3/5 in the field of six, before a final quarter sprint of 27 3/5 sealed the deal by 1 1/2 lengths over 35-1 longest-shot-on-the-board Bourbonista S in 1:54 1/5. Conversano, the 2025 Hambletonian Oaks champion, finished third.

"I thought she was much better last week (when a close-up second to Bravo Angel S)," said Gingras. "But she got the job done. She's a nice mare."

A 4-year-old daughter of Don't Let'em-Bad Babysitter who is trained by Ron Burke, Miracle Maven recorded her 14th career win from just 25 starts, good for earnings of $553,452. As the 1-5 favorite, she returned $2.60 to win.

--press release (Meadowlands)--